Town Promote Cancer Charity
Wed 24th September 2014 | Rochdale Town | By Ian Templeman
Rochdale Town have joined forces with the charity Melanoma UK, to help raise awareness of the dangers of melanoma.
Melanoma UK is a patient support and advocacy group, dedicated to helping melanoma patients and undertaking fundraising to provide melanoma nurses and research into melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer.
The founder and Key Worker in the charity is Gill Nuttall, who is a friend of Rochdale Town Chairman Mark Canning, and as she explained, she has targeted sport as a means of raising awareness of the dangers of melanoma.
"In 2002 a very close family friend was diagnosed with melanoma", said Gill. "Looking back, I didn’t think for a moment that melanoma would take his life – I was probably guilty of just thinking of it in terms of “skin cancer” – a mistake that many people still make.
"When I realised he was terminally ill, I started looking for a treatment for him – I trawled the world twice over and found nothing. I decided that I would raise some awareness of melanoma, do some fund raising and walk away once I’d achieved that goal.
"During the time when my friend was ill, I discovered that the former Celtic player and manager Tommy Burns also had melanoma and I was in touch with Tommy up until his death. Also during this time, I was contacted by another friend of mine who is an ex-player and part of the PFA.
"He told me that Ernie Cooksey (ex Oldham and Rochdale player) also had melanoma and asked if I was able to help. Sadly, I couldn’t help Ernie - melanoma treatment back then was a very different landscape and treatments that are now used to prolong the lives of patients were just not available in the UK.
"People may be aware that Paul Merson, Vinnie Jones and Jordan Moore also have melanoma and even back then, I recognised there was an issue in sport, not just in football, but in cricket and rugby also.
"As time went on, it became apparent that patients needed more and more support and I was filling the gap that existed in patient advocacy and support. Melanoma UK is now a registered charity and I work full time in patient advocacy and awareness.
"Mark and I have been friends for a number of years and we’ve done some awareness work together at Rochdale Town. There is an advert in the match programme, and when we spoke a few months back about other ways that that club would help, I agreed that we would provide T-shirts to promote the charity at Rochdale Town's games".
Mark Canning said: "As a club we always looking to help good causes, and this is something close to home for me as my dad was diagnosed with melanoma.
"People need to be aware of the dangers of melanoma and skin cancer and it's something I'm always conscious of.
"Whenever I'm out and about in summer I make sure I've got sun cream with me, and when we are training in the summer, especially during pre-season, we always make sure that the players use sun cream to protect themselves.
"When Gill suggested that she could provide some T-shirts for us with the charity name on, we decided that the players would wear them to warm up in before each game.
"The lads have also been doing their bit to promote the charity too, and they have been sending pictures of the T-shirts and messages out on Twitter before each game, especially at away games.
"It's all about raising awareness, and I would like to think that everyone at our club is alert to the dangers of melanoma and skin cancer, and hopefully as we travel around the league the T-shirts will help spread the message".
The Town squad are pictured above in their T-shirts.
For more information on Melanoma UK, you can visit the charity's website by clicking here.
Town Promote Cancer Charity
Wed 24th September 2014 | Rochdale Town
By Ian Templeman
Rochdale Town have joined forces with the charity Melanoma UK, to help raise awareness of the dangers of melanoma.
Melanoma UK is a patient support and advocacy group, dedicated to helping melanoma patients and undertaking fundraising to provide melanoma nurses and research into melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer.
The founder and Key Worker in the charity is Gill Nuttall, who is a friend of Rochdale Town Chairman Mark Canning, and as she explained, she has targeted sport as a means of raising awareness of the dangers of melanoma.
"In 2002 a very close family friend was diagnosed with melanoma", said Gill. "Looking back, I didn’t think for a moment that melanoma would take his life – I was probably guilty of just thinking of it in terms of “skin cancer” – a mistake that many people still make.
"When I realised he was terminally ill, I started looking for a treatment for him – I trawled the world twice over and found nothing. I decided that I would raise some awareness of melanoma, do some fund raising and walk away once I’d achieved that goal.
"During the time when my friend was ill, I discovered that the former Celtic player and manager Tommy Burns also had melanoma and I was in touch with Tommy up until his death. Also during this time, I was contacted by another friend of mine who is an ex-player and part of the PFA.
"He told me that Ernie Cooksey (ex Oldham and Rochdale player) also had melanoma and asked if I was able to help. Sadly, I couldn’t help Ernie - melanoma treatment back then was a very different landscape and treatments that are now used to prolong the lives of patients were just not available in the UK.
"People may be aware that Paul Merson, Vinnie Jones and Jordan Moore also have melanoma and even back then, I recognised there was an issue in sport, not just in football, but in cricket and rugby also.
"As time went on, it became apparent that patients needed more and more support and I was filling the gap that existed in patient advocacy and support. Melanoma UK is now a registered charity and I work full time in patient advocacy and awareness.
"Mark and I have been friends for a number of years and we’ve done some awareness work together at Rochdale Town. There is an advert in the match programme, and when we spoke a few months back about other ways that that club would help, I agreed that we would provide T-shirts to promote the charity at Rochdale Town's games".
Mark Canning said: "As a club we always looking to help good causes, and this is something close to home for me as my dad was diagnosed with melanoma.
"People need to be aware of the dangers of melanoma and skin cancer and it's something I'm always conscious of.
"Whenever I'm out and about in summer I make sure I've got sun cream with me, and when we are training in the summer, especially during pre-season, we always make sure that the players use sun cream to protect themselves.
"When Gill suggested that she could provide some T-shirts for us with the charity name on, we decided that the players would wear them to warm up in before each game.
"The lads have also been doing their bit to promote the charity too, and they have been sending pictures of the T-shirts and messages out on Twitter before each game, especially at away games.
"It's all about raising awareness, and I would like to think that everyone at our club is alert to the dangers of melanoma and skin cancer, and hopefully as we travel around the league the T-shirts will help spread the message".
The Town squad are pictured above in their T-shirts.
For more information on Melanoma UK, you can visit the charity's website by clicking here.
