The deaths of Bobby Moore and Adam Stansfield were proof that bowel cancer can affect anyone and highlights the importance of raising awareness of the disease.
April is bowel cancer awareness month and PFA members and charity partners will again be spreading the word about the second highest cause of cancer death in the UK.
An average of 44 people a day lose their life to bowel cancer in the UK and there are around 34,000 new cases each year. Former England captain Bobby Moore died of the disease in 1993, as did Exeter striker Adam Stansfield in 2010.
Bowel cancer, although most common in the over 50s, can affect anyone and the sooner a patient is diagnosed, the better their chances of successful treatment so raising awareness can make a huge difference.
The PFA supports several charities involved in the fight against bowel cancer as part of a national campaign called ‘Know the Score’ which this year runs from April 13-20.
This year marks the 20th anniversary since the death of Bobby Moore so a new campaign has been launched to ‘Make Bobby Proud’. The Bobby Moore Fund has received plenty of support from PFA members and received a boost at the FA England Awards when Steven Gerrard revealed the England squad were donating £25,000 to match The FA’s Community Shield donation.
The Adam Stansfield Foundation was formed after the loss of the popular Exeter forward, who was a loving husband and father to three boys. The charitable objectives of the Foundation are to promote community participation in healthy recreation for the benefit of young people in the area by the provision of grants and facilities for playing football, while also advancing the education of the general public regarding bowel cancer.
The under-sevens team at Moors Youth, Tiverton, successfully applied to the Foundation for football equipment. Club secretary Paul Hunt said: “Adam provided so much for local football teams here in Tiverton and for these young players, they have a role model to look up to and a standard to aspire to, following in his footsteps and living the dream.”
The Mr Brightside Project was set up in 2010 by family and friends of Stephen Johns - the son of former Millwall, Charlton and QPR goalkeeper Nicky Johns. Stephen lost his life to bowel cancer in 2008 at the age of 26 after a seven-week battle against the disease.
The charity aims to end the perception that bowel cancer is an illness affecting only older people, as well as raising funds to provide and assist in the provision of facilities, support services and equipment for cancer units in the UK which are not normally provided.
Bowel cancer can affect anyone, including footballers as history has sadly proved, but hopefully the help of PFA members will go some way to reducing the misery it causes.
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