Everton provide big boost for young Sunderland fan's cancer fund

Well done Everton.

Best club in the World.

Very proud blue.

COYB

Well done whomever authorised that.

Great result also.

Best of luck the the lad and his family. Keep fighting!

The US has no NHS, only private health insurance and Obamacare, so the new drugs do get developed here and then have price tags that seem outrageous if you don't have insurance. Not excusing the cost, just explaining it.

Maybe there "oughta be a law"... but there isn't in the US. And since I'm still walking around, it would be pretty hypocritical of me to make speeches about drug costs.

I wish the little lad all the best. His treatment will not only be expensive, but pretty awful.

Without wanting get into point-scoring, it brings into focus that media beat-up around private jets. £6.5k for private flights and they want to refer to us as tight. There are far better things that money can go towards. I'm glad to see the club has a sense of perspective.

Best wishes to Bradley and his family.

Very proud to be a blue.

Tranmere have also helped out, obviously in a smaller way, but the richest club on Merseyside have done sweet FA. This despite the lad being a red!!! And this is not just because I'm a blue, other fundraisers have told me similar stories.

Well done, Bill; who according to Koeman is responsible for the gesture.

Hope the treatment goes well, Bradley, stay strong young man. Same goes for you Mike, hope you make a full recovery.

Daniel @23 – I'm sure that these donations are given in private. It wouldn't surprise me either that the team made a whip around and came up with close to the same amount again. The likes of Jags and Bainesy, you could see them organising something like that.

Good luck, wee man.

We done Everton – pure class.

Makes you sick to the stomach that we have so many ridiculously over paid executives working for the NHS and the family are having to beg for cash for Bradley's life changing treatment.

Sack 3 executives and the cash arrives – seems fair to me.

Hopefully he makes enough to get over and a nice touch from the Blues.

I thought Sky could have put the donation details up, but maybe they can't for some reason.

Anyway, well done, Everton; once again, proud to be a Blue.

Cancer drugs cost so much because childhood cancers are rare, so the drugs are only bought occasionally, unlike long-term drugs for hypertension and pain, with millions of prescriptions every year.

We don't notice it so much in our system where the money comes from government, NICE permitting, but in insurance based systems the cost is more obvious.

Anyway, best of luck to the lad, and well done Everton.

Is it not the case that these pharmaceutical companies make massive profits?

So much looking forward to seeing this brave little lad come through this.

Well done Everton. Will other clubs follow suit?

Also to Mike #25, I hope all goes well for you.

UNBELIEVABLE NEWS!

Five-year-old Bradley Lowery has hit his target of £700,000 to have his treatment in America.

A lot of the £700,000 of course is medical care - many weeks in very expensive hospitals and intensive care units, lots of highly paid specialists, and so on.

I have been involved in fundraising events in the past. Please excuse me if this seems a bit long winded, I will try to keep it as short as possible.

In 2005 a friend of mine was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND). Four of us decided to have a charity night to raise money to send him for stem cell treatment abroad, as this is not available in this country. Stem cell treatment can effectively prolong your live.

Anyway, we made contact with both EFC and LFC for donations to raffle / auction on the night, as well as other small businesses, including local radio. Everyone donated except one!

EFC were magnificent. They provided signed balls, shirts, players boots, gloves and photographs to raffle / auction. Further contact was made with LFC for donations. They finally relented, and sent us a signed photograph of Gerrard with the champions league trophy!!

Ex Everton players attended the night and in total we raised over £22K to send our mate for his treatment. Sadly, however he died within two years of being diagnosed.

My second story was more to do with the missus. A few years back she was informed by a work colleague of a tragic story of five young children aged between 5 -16, who'd lost both parents. Again a charity night was arranged, and again contact made with EFC and LFC and other businesses. Again everyone donated, except one!!

EFC sent match tickets, a family ticket for a stadium tour, signed balls and shirts. The missus was furious was LFC. She wrote to them again to explain the reason for the night. Their reply ...we receive requests like this everyday and cannot respond to them all.

This is five kids from your own bloody city, for gods sake!!

Further contact was made with them, and again they finally relented. Five days later, a brown parcel was pushed through the letter box. It was an away shirt of LFC, but from five years previously!!

Anyway another successful night raised about £12K for the five children.

So although they might have won a lot more trophies than us, and we all like to win cups, as a club Everton Football Club is miles ahead of LFC when it comes to helping the local community.

On behalf of myself, TW and all blues all over the world, I wish to thank the club for this magnificent gesture and making us all so proud to support the best club in the world, and we all hope that young Bradley makes a speedy and full recovery.

To be fair though there are a lot of comments on a variety of newspaper websites from Kopites praising Everton for this donation including one who says, 'proud to have you as our neighbours'! Mind you, they are probably just scousers whose heads are not as far up their own arses as their club's head is and who are not necessarily as cold hearted as their club. A lot of comments from all over the world too, from lots of people who have never heard of Everton ........ well they have now!

I was tickled pink by the win last night as we would have lost that last season (in fact, we did, didn't we?) but hearing about the donation just puffed me up no end. When I told the missus she actually started crying.

Never felt so proud of Everton Football Club in my life.

I went to the Stoke game, my first in 16 months and on the way up noticed the free school built on Spellow Lane, which I'd not seen before, in addition to the other buildings nearby, all of which has been built with support by EITC. It showed there and then just how much Everton value the community of Walton and I hope this continues if we do leave for the Docklands as we are by far the biggest business in the area and pull in a lot of revenue on matchdays for other businesses around the ground who may otherwise suffer once we have our shiny new stadium.

Mike Gaynes - I hope you're supporting Everton for many years.

Best wishes to little Bradley and Mike Gaynes.

Very proud to be born a Blue, great night all round.

Kudos to Bill, although I can (and often do) criticise his footballing acumen, you cannot question his humanity and genuinely caring nature.

On reflection, I feel ashamed of myself for some of the vitriol I have directed at him, and vow to stop some of the offensive names etc. I have used in the past. I am sure to be wound up in the future by the man, but I make the promise to do my best to keep things in perspective and my comments civil.

This poor kids story makes you think about everything really, and for me it's apt that the most stupid & ridiculous comment in relation to football and life/death is attributed to the chief gobshite from across the park, also sadly named Bill. Gimme our Bill anyday!

Best wishes Bradley and his family, keep on fighting son.

Also, all the best Mike G, keep on keepin on brother, thoughts are with you and your family.

"We have fans, you have customers" I said.

"How very true,when we (the RS) are selling... SELLING... the old main stand seats and not for charity."

And then our club do this... the gulf could not be wider.

Everton – well, it's just what makes us!

Very proud to be a Blue today, in more ways than one.

The only negativity in this situation is that patients like Bradley have to travel abroad for treatments that elevate the costs, and put their families through additional pressures to raise funds.

Seen lots of people suggesting options for organisations that should have just paid it. Well it should be available at zero or reasonable cost, and someone just paying it isn't the answer. Where would you stop?

The Premier League suddenly funds the NHS? This way a little boy got help he very much needed, and the bigger picture is that an important matter got some major coverage.

Fabulous gesture by Everton that sets us apart from every other so-called Premier League club and their obscene dream to re-invent themselves as a 'brand'.

Proud to be an Evertonian.

Koeman, you blues!

Fingers crossed for the little Mackem.

What the away fans did, brought a tear to my eye much like EFC's donation. Just love the scale of compassion Look it up!!!

I have first hand experience of "Nuroblastoma" – I lost my beautiful little boy "Alex Lee" when he was 4 years old and this disease is about as bad as it gets, very very aggressive type cancer of the nervous system.

I hope and pray it goes well for the little chap, but he has a very testing and painful journey ahead of him.

Saying a prayer for him and his family.

Good Luck.

Good luck, Bradley and Mike (and everyone who may be facing their own fight).

Mike Gaynes,

I am sorry that you are experiencing your own fight against cancer. Best wishes to you in beating such a terrible disease. I look forward to enjoying reading your posts on here for years to come.

I am going to New York next week to spend time with a friend who has also had to seek treatment outside the UK. He has terminal prostate cancer and secondary liver cancer. The treatment he is having is cutting edge and is basically his last hope (medically speaking). His is not costing quite as much as Bradley's only $600,000; he is fortunate in that his employers are prepared to pay.

He tried to have the treatment in the UK but his doctors were unable to have the treatment sanctioned as it is by-and-large untested on humans although all the equipment and expertise exists in the UK. It would be uncaring in the extreme if the powers that be in this country were taking the same line with Bradley and insisting that a 5-year-old lad be put through the same ordeal.

I always look out for your posts. I remember your post predicting Yakubu would never be the same again after doing his achilles.

You were spot on and and I remember thinking this American chap knows his stuff.

I can't applaud enough the action that Everton has taken for little Bradley and the way the fans and TWers have joined in. If you ever want to be truly inspired by courage, visit a children's cancer ward to see what Bradley will be experiencing. You won't believe how brave these kids are in the face of truly intolerable pain and nausea that in some cases they are too young to really understand.

I'm very lucky in that my treatments are actually quite comfortable. Tell you what, I'm a pretty tough old bird, but there's no way I'd have the courage to handle what these kids must deal with. That they can well, it just amazes me.

David Johnston (#89) – Fantastic response too. Well said, mate.

Heartbreaking seeing young Bradley held in his Dad's arms on the 5th minute, and the whole of the stadium joined as one willing them on.

Brought a tear to my eye, and is now just typing this.

Good luck Bradley on your treatment.

Everton is now all over social media as a result of this gesture. While I wish the kid well, I think that our own health service should be healing him and he shouldn't be dependent on charity.

There are many kids like him, I know one myself and I know parents going through hell at the moment, but the tragedy in these cases is that these kids are in this situation.

Considering the obscene levels of money floating around the Premier League, 𧶀,000 is a pittance for such good publicity.

Should all of our kids now hope for football clubs to help them? Or should we live in a society that looks after them?

There is also free football coaching before home games. On the same road, although born in Liverpool, my 5-year-old grandson lives in Bristol. My son picks him up every 2 weeks and we have him home for the weekend. We took him to his first game against Yeovil and he loved it.

The free coaching is supplied by Everton. Cynics would argue it's to snare the youngsters for their support. Wrong. He would have been a blue anyway. 4th generation. Proud to be a blue.

See a WHU lady followed suit about her boy on Twitter – I wish them luck too and would hope that Bradley's family pass on any excess to other families going through the same hell.

A day's wage from Premier League footballer would go a long way but I agree that it shouldn't be that way. 𧷤,000 a week is as outrageous as 𧽴,000 to save a young boy's life.

If for one moment I thought that anybody at the club had used a sick child as a publicity stunt, I would be appalled... and to suggest it is a little bit appalling too.

I agree with you that the need to send anybody overseas to get the treatment they require is not very good, but that's the system we live by and most people seem to believe it is the best one for the majority of people.

Life is full of unpleasant comparisons and perhaps we should all take a look at ourselves when trying to get things cheaper than they should be or we demand that the tax take should be less than it is, as that usually adversely affects somebody somewhere and there but for the grace of god go all of us.

Excellent gesture.

I really can't believe you've managed to squeeze the phrase "deadline day disappointment" into a post on this thread. Dear, dear me... where to even start?

NHS will not fund until a drug is proven to be better than what already exists. That has to be proven over several years of trials – not a 'one-off'.

We are entering an era when drugs are made specifically for a single person which as you can imagine is a whole lot more expensive than filling bottles with tables. Costs are high so even more assurance is demanded by those spending taxpayers' money.

Good luck to those who are successful in raising funds and all credit to those who care enough to donate.

A wonderful jesture by the club, because £200,000 is a sizeable amount in anybody's book.

I disagree, though, that it's a response to deadline day. We would have a budget for donations as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility. The club does plenty of good things, donates to plenty of good causes. Is part of the intention of that program to portray a positive image? Absolutely!

But is that a bad thing? We can't solve every problem but we can choose to support causes that we think are worthwhile. This donation shows what we stand for and achieves far more than individual donations can. It subsidises treatment but, far more importantly, it generates publicity. That publicity reflects well on the club but also sparks awareness of individual cases and publicises the failings of the system.

And regardless of what people think the club could afford, £200k is a huge amount of money. It's a big donation by any standards.

The club deserves all the praise it gets, the lad deserves a chance at life, and the current system that allows a young boy's life to pass unless his family have £700k deserves all the criticism it can get. All three are happening now thanks to Everton FC.

My main point stands though. It may not be a response to deadline day, but it has achieved positive publicity for the club. Therefore this will have been discussed by certain people and a decision will have been made to donate to this cause, as opposed to others.

Also, if this kid's fate was so important, then why wait till we are playing them to give the money? I do not know when the money has/will be paid, but any chance to speed up the treatment is surely beneficial.

Therefore I am impressed by whoever did this, but a little cynical as to the reasons.

I'd never heard of this young lad before last night and I'm guessing neither did our clubs hierarchy until they met him and his parents at last nights game.

If a conversation had taken place as you suggest, I don't think a donation of that size would have been made, the truth is they could have made a donation of 㿞k, received exactly the same publicity and raised awareness of this young mans plight for a quarter of the actual outlay.

Apart from the initial announcement, the club has declined to comment further, probably being aware of accusations such as yours being leveled at them if they do.

The brilliant part to this story is, Everton FC can rightly take credit for not only making the donation, but also generating the publicity and awareness so that other people from all over the world have made donations today to help reach and surpass his 𧽴k target.

Of course, the reasons why families all over the UK are trying daily to raise funds for friends and relatives to seek life saving treatment abroad is another debate, usually for smarmy bastard career politicians on Question Time, who couldn't give a flying fuck about the health and welfare of the people as long as they're getting their expenses, salaries and private healthcare.

I hope the cynic in you gets a little more sentimental as time goes by. A bit of schmaltz is a good thing.

But it's still a good thing. And this donation is just part of that – it stands alone as a choice on how to distribute that money. The club thought it worthwhile.

I donated to a mate's charity marathon run recently and allowed my donation to be shown on his 'wall'. I suppose I was showing what I believe in and hoping to encourage others. Maybe I was trying to publicise that I'm a good guy.

I don't think that some self-interested motives negate some applaudable motives and a hugely beneficial outcome.

To be honest, it's a tragedy that we need charity at all but I might be getting a bit commy.

Mike Gaynes,

Dignified, informative, Humble.

I wish you well.

WE DID...for whatever reason, the right thing got done. I reckon that the right thing done, for whatever reason, by mistake, as a previously budgeted tax write off, for publicity... is still the right thing to do, end result the kid will get the treatment, all's well that ends well (hopefully).

Having heard some of the horror stories with regards to the RS and donations a little Karma in the Celestial bank will do us no harm at all.

You never know, it might encourage others.

I am a self absorbed prick of a human being.

I will not tolerate American TW contributors being ill, sick, et al.

There are too few of us born in this great country on TW, and as TW is my reading pleasure, and I love reading fellow American's comments...

I insist you be of good health fine sir!

It's all about me Mike! Don't ruin my TW "read the fellow countyman's comments" evening ritual! What the fuck else am I to do with my time?

;0)

Seriously Mike I enjoy your posts - be well please.

And my God what a fantastic gesture by Everton.

Bradley is heartbreaking and reaffirming. That 5-minute gesture brings tears to eyes with him deeply wrapped around his dad.

The money is now all in. Like Mike, Bradley will be in the care of US doctors. Let's hope that Bradley under their care too has a long, long life like Mike in his enviable California coastal town.

Best of luck, Bradley, and to you too Mr Gaynes.

Wish you nothing but the best.

Please forgive me for distressing you, fine sir. As one of the senior Yanks on TW (when I first signed in a decade ago, I was one of a handful at most), I am keenly aware of my responsibility to continue manning the Colonial battlements and firing off red-glaring rockets at regular intervals.

Fear not, I'm standing strong and expect to continue delivering my off-target Star-and-Striped opinions here for a long time to come.

Thanks for the good wishes... and thanks to you also Mr. Kelly.

The direct control we do have is to be kind and compassionate. I believe that Everton were compassionate in giving the money towards Bradley's treatment. But as I say, I understand where you're coming from. I just don't think you need be cynical on this occasion.

Absolutely fabulous commitment by Everton (BK obviously by the sounds of it) – bought me to tears along with that tightness you get in the throat... hope the wee man wins his fight – he's a smashing little lad and his Mum did say that just the short walk and handshakes with the Everton team took its toll on him. Brave, brave lad.

Proud to be a blue.

http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2013/08/13/a-groundbreaking-clinical-trial-for-children-with-aggressive-neuroblastoma/

UK NHS is investing a lot of time and money into this, helping the maximum number of patients it can afford in collaboration with CRCUK. The drug company involved are also helping fund this trial - quite possibly to the tune of many hundreds of millions ££.

This trial is currently ongoing. It includes antibody treatment but that is the second phase of the trial so may not be happening yet.

Why little Bradley is going to the US for treatment is not for us to speculate on – there will be very good reasons such as him being amongst the few who are not responding well to current treatment or time may be short. For him the donations are potentially life saving so all the more credit to all those who have helped.

But to doubt the commitment of the NHS to helping children with this kind of cancer is wrong. The NHS is doing more than its bit to develop treatment for these children and if proven will pay for it in full – no more charity required. We are amongst the best in the world. Cure rates are already up to 68%.

However then there will be another child with a different cancer and the demand on the NHS goes on and on until they are all eradicated.

Mike- I can only echo what everyone else says on this thread- keep at it and beat this dreadful disease- we're all with you.

Eddie- hopefully you have had the opportunity to reconsider your cynical post. I know BK personally and he is a compassionate man who would not dream of doing this for the publicity- just accept that such gestures can be done with no ulterior motive- anyone who watched the game would have been deeply touched by the pictures of this lad and the way the crowd responded.

Our great club does this type of thing better than any other and we should ALL be very proud.

Mike Gaynes, I wish you all the best and "Live long and prosper".

Cancer really is a hellish thing. My closest "bro" is in surgery at this moment, and I'm waiting to hear.

Someday, maybe, they'll find a way to stop this monster. In the meantime. all we can do is reach out and share and help as best we can. Everton is a great example of that. So is this board.

Now I have to hide behind the couch all the time, no disappearing away from the live match for a tab... :)

And the silliest thing is that I have had a raspy cough for 2 months now – doctor said it was the cilia or hairs growing back in my lungs – to which I replied "If those hairs are growing, we need to transplant my lungs up to my brain then!"