Junior football club’s dads teams raise more than £1,300 for Telford girl’s battle with cancer
The event saw “Wrekin Seniors” taking on “Telford Dads” on Saturday.
Family, coaches, parents and supporters of a Shropshire junior football club have raised more than £1,300 to help the family of a young girl battling cancer.
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Isabelle Jones, from St George’s in Telford, who is nine this month, has been fighting Stage 4 rhabdomyosarcoma of the bladder for the last two years, but is now in palliative care.
Mum Claire Druce says that the family are trying to make as many memories with Izzy in the time she has left. A JustGiving page has been set up to help the family, who have also been raising 9,000 smiles for Izzy from well-wishers ahead of her ninth birthday.
To help support the family, coaches, parents and supporters of Wrekin Juniors Football Club donned their boots for a fundraising match for Izzy on Saturday, with “Wrekin Seniors” taking on “Telford Dads”.
One of the organisers, Laura Walker, whose son plays for Wrekin Juniors said before the match kicked off at 2pm, they held a one-minute round of applause.
“It was such a great atmosphere,” she said. “The men playing commented on how great it was to play with players they've never met, but they all rallied together for such a great cause.”
She said in total, the day raised £1,350 for Izzy, with £620 coming from Wrekin Juniors FC players, £400 from The Ben Corfield Football Fund founders who turned up with a cheque, £250 from the local fire crew, and the The Pheasant pub raised £80 with their post match pizzas.
Laura said they sent Izzy and her family photos and videos of the event, and the entire team signed a birthday card for her.
“It's been an honour,” Laura said. “As a parent it is unimaginable what they are going through, so to be able to invest time into pulling this together with our incredibly generous football club, has been a real pleasure.”
“It was a true representation of local communities coming together for our own,” said Laura. “Without even knowing Izzy, we all felt this one.”
Izzy’s fundraising page can be found at: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/9000smilesforizzy
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