Saturday 14 September 2019 23:19, UK
Former Sky Sports presenter Simon Thomas is undertaking a 30-day challenge for Bloodwise UK after losing his wife to acute myeloid leukaemia.
Gemma Thomas passed away in November 2017, and Simon and his son Ethan have set out to raise awareness of the fact that September is Blood Cancer Awareness month.
Day 14 was spent at Sky Sports, where Thomas was on Soccer AM to take the volley challenge with fellow Norwich fans before setting off for Carrow Road, where he played zorb football at half time of the Canaries' win over Manchester City.
"Blood Cancer Awareness month is September and that's why I am taking on one challenge every day for Bloodwise, and every day the challenges have been surprises," said Thomas.
"We're trying first and foremost to raise awareness, because at the moment it is the fifth most common cancer in the country, but when it comes to cancers it is the third biggest killer.
"As well as raising awareness, Bloodwise have been incredible in setting up a fund in Gemma's name - the Gemma Thomas fund - and the money we have been raising, which I think is just about £5000, is putting money into not just blood cancer research, but also acute myeloid leukaemia which is a rare form but such an aggressive form.
"For the 3000 or so people that get it in the UK every year, the one thing that's got to change is the survival rate because beyond five years the survival rate at the moment for someone who gets acute myeloid leukaemia is just 15 per cent and that has to change."
Thomas says the primary goal of his series of challenges is to educate people on the symptoms of blood cancer.
"We know from here at Sky Sports what Jeff Stelling has been doing with his walks for prostate cancer, the narrative in terms of educating men about what to look out in terms of prostate cancer and football has been a game-changer," said Thomas.
"Breast cancer in the last few years that has had its game-changer [moment] in terms of women now knowing what to look out for. The problem with blood cancer is that the symptoms are many and they can be very varied.
"People at the moment are not up to speed on what to look out for and to our cost two years ago, when Gemma started falling ill, we didn't know what she was experiencing - the headaches, the extreme fatigue, the bruise that wouldn't go were all tell-tale signs that something that was seriously wrong.
"We're first off all trying to raise awareness because at the moment half the UK population cannot name a single blood cancer symptom and that's got to change."
The Ruth Strauss Foundation was set up by former England captain Sir Andrew Strauss in honour of his wife, who died of a rare form of lung cancer in December 2018.
On day two of the second Ashes Test between England and Australia, everyone was asked to wear red to Lord's to raise money and awareness for the cause. Thomas was unable to attend the day but says he has personally felt the effect of support from the wider sporting community.
"I haven't met [Strauss] since what happened but we exchanged messages a little bit about how is he doing and he very kindly invited me along to that amazing day at Lord's, but unfortunately we were away at the time and couldn't go," said Thomas.
"We've seen through Andrew Strauss and Glenn McGrath - but also we felt it a little bit ourselves when this happened - that there is a massive community within the world of sport and particularly when it comes to football.
"I had countless messages including a lovely letter from Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham which he wrote himself - it wasn't a kind of club-generated letter, he had written it himself. You felt the world of football getting around you and saying 'Look this is horrible what has happened to you but we're alongside you'.
To donate to Simon Thomas' 30-day challenge for Bloodwise UK go to www.bloodwise.org.uk/simon
