Stoke City fan Brian has raised thousands for charity
Fund-raiser Brian Bennett with sister Jackie, wife Sharon and sister-in-law Carolyn
Michelin worker Brian Bennett is raising awareness and funds for a leukaemia charity – just weeks after being told he is in remission following his blood cancer diagnosis four years ago. The Stoke City season ticket holder has already raised £20,000 for Leukaemia Care by organising two football matches in 2023 and 2024.
Now he is planning the next one at the Michelin sports ground in August alongside an auction and family fun day.
The 51-year-old began feeling unwell during the pandemic and went to see his GP in June 2021 after losing weight and suffering from night sweats. He was initially treated for IBS with many of the symptons related to day-to-day illnesses.
But he was persuaded by family to go back to see the doctor again when they all met at a gender reveal party. That was in October when he was also suffering from shortness of breath.
At that point he was told it could be bowel cancer but when the Newcastle Town youth coach was travelling to a match in Wolverhampton, he received a call from his GP telling him that it was leukaemia. He began treatment the next morning.
He credits consultants at the Royal Stoke University Hospital with saving his life but it has been a long and difficult journey to this point and he has been on the waiting list for a stem cell transplant for two years.
He said: “The news was devastating and changed my life forever. I had a difficult response to treatment.”
But after being transferred to hospital in Manchester, consultants there gave him injections to boost his white blood cells and changed his medication.
As a result, he is now in remission. Having been a high-risk leukaemia patient for 18 months he is now seen as an intermediate risk. He now has blood tests every six weeks rather than every week. His leukaemia level has dropped to 0.1 per cent compared with 12 per cent at its highest.
Brian, who lost his mum to cancer when she was 45, said: “I am in the best place I have been since diagnosis. Physically the side-effects are still there and it’s just become part of life. And mentally it’s tough. I am still fighting and still carrying on as normal as can be. But now it’s about raising awareness and hopefully what has happened to me will give hope to people who are going through something similar,”
Brian has worked for Michelin for 29 years as a training instructor and a trade union representative. He has greatly appreciated the financial and emotional support he has received from both his employer and from Leukaemia Care.
He has raised money for the charity with two fundraising football matches involving a team from Michelin taking on a team from JCB, where his brother Ken works. And he also raffled off a voucher for a meal at Milehouse Bar and Grill that owner Leon Burton gave to Brian and his family. That raised £700 and inspired him to start the fundraising football matches.
The next game is taking place at Michelin on August 17, alongside the auction and a family fun day.
Brian said: “I and thousands of others would not have managed the fight without the emotional support from Leukaemia Care.” To donate to the cause, click here.
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