Geoff Thomas and Ben Foster's joint mission to Cure Leukaemia

Blood cancer survivor Geoff Thomas and Ben Foster are both patrons of the cancer charity, which has launched a new campaign, 'What will your mission be to help put Cure Leukaemia out of business in 2020?'.

Former England international footballers Foster and Thomas, who was at Molineux from 1994 to 1997, met up with potential fundraisers at a special ‘Mission Possible’ networking event, staged at The Colmore Building, in Birmingham.

Foster, who is currently helping Watford fight for survival in the Premiership, and Thomas are also keen cyclists. Both will be taking part in Cure Leukaemia’s London to Paris challenge, in June.

Guests at the networking event also heard about GT15, which sees Thomas – who was joined by Lance Armstrong, cycling the Tour de France route for Cure Leukaemia in 2015 – lead a team along the gruelling course, one day ahead of the professionals, which has a fundraising target of £1 million.

Further team events include the Copa Del CL football tournament, at St George’s Park, on October 16, the Great Birmingham 10k, on May 31, and the Birmingham half marathon, October 11.

There were also a couple of ‘exclusives’ for the corporate guests, as part of Blood Cancer Awareness Month, in September.

A three-year partnership with the NEC for the Dragonboat Race will be begin on September 5, while a ‘Colmore Crew’ cycling team will take part in a social ride of either 30 or 60 miles, on September 25.

Cure Leukaemia is close to the hearts of Wolves fans, who rallied to support of former goalkeeper Carl Ikeme and helped the charity achieve a record-breaking year in 2017, when it raised £2 million.

Ikeme was diagnosed with acute leukaemia in the summer of 2016 but is now in remission. He continues to support the charity and raise as money as possible.

The £2m paid towards an expansion of a haematology centre at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Birmingham.

Foster, who also played for Stafford Rangers and Kidderminster Harriers on loan, said: "I always love coming along to Cure Leukaemia events, and I love being a patron.

“Being part of the charity feels like being part of a family, and when I was asked to be a patron last year I was genuinely honoured people thought that much of me, that they would ask me to take on the role.

“I will always try and support the events when I can, especially with my enjoyment of cycling, and I have great memories of London to Paris in 2015, which was part of my recovery from a knee injury.

“This time around the dates have fallen perfectly to give me the chance of some really good fitness work during the close season, and also having plenty of fun at the same time.

“It is a fantastic event, open to cyclists of all ages and abilities with a great spirit of everyone pushing each other on, and I am really looking forward to being part of the team for 2020.”

Businesses represented at the event included the NEC, Irwin Mitchell, 3PB Barristers, Shakespeare Martineau, Gowling WLG, Anthony Collins, Amey, Investec, Willis Towers Watson and HSBC.

Three of the four headline day sponsors for this year’s London to Paris – Culture Recruitment, Rudell the Jewellers and Whey’d – were also able to view the new kit for the 2020 event, designed by Kalas.

Cure Leukaemia CEO James McLaughlin said: “It was another great event welcoming representatives from many different businesses across the West Midlands, following last year’s successful launch of our ‘Mission Possible’ campaign.

“The aim is to encourage people to become our ‘agents’ take on challenges, or ‘missions’, to support Cure Leukaemia both in not only saving lives but also working towards finding a cure for all blood cancers to ‘Put us Out of Business’ as a charity once and for all.

“With Cure Leukaemia now having gone ‘national’ to fund 12 Blood Cancer Centres around the UK with a catchment area of over 20 million people, we are going to need more and more support from people and businesses through fundraising, and remain so appreciative of all who take on a ‘mission’ for the charity.”

Mr McLaughlin and Cure Leukaemia Chairman, Geoff Cousins, will take part in this year’s London to Paris ride, whilst two inspirational patients who have previously completed the challenge having been treated for leukaemia – Jenna Ostrowski and Mark Nicholas – also spoke at the networking event.

More than 130 have signed up to take part, from June 4 to 8, Just 30 places remain and there are also a number of sponsorship opportunities still available for the event.

For further information about sponsorship, email jackie@cureleukaemia.co.uk, or for details about the London to Paris bike ride, go to l2prevolution.com