Wolves fans help Cure Leukaemia net £2 million
Wolves fans’ support for Carl Ikeme helped Cure Leukaemia achieve a record-breaking year smashing the £2 million mark for the first time.
Cash raised for the cancer charity allowed an expansion of a haematology centre at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham to go ahead.
And Wolves and their supporters have been given a special thanks for helping make 2017 the charity’s most successful year.
The charity reached its goal of raising an extra £1 million during the year in order to make the hospital expansion a reality – around 10 per cent of which was raised through the Carl Ikeme appeal.
The Wolves fanbase was left stunned when the popular goalkeeper was diagnosed with acute leukaemia last summer.
Several initiatives have been organised since, bringing in thousands of pounds for the charity, which operates with just five members of staff.
A 24-hour penalty shoot-out was held at Molineux in August in support of Ikeme and the charity.
A bucket collection before the first home game of the season against Middlesbrough brought in £8,000.
Cash was also raised through proceeds from the printing of goalkeeper shirts with ‘Ikeme 1’ on the back.
The total for the #TeamKemes Just Giving page currently stands at more than £110,000.
A total of £2.2 million was raised during the year for Cure Leukaemia, including the extra £1 million which has seen the internationally renowned Centre for Clinical Haematology (CCH) at the hospital double its capacity and treat 20,000 patients a year.
The sizeable donation made up almost a third of the total cost of the £3.4 million hospital project.
Cure Leukaemia co-founder Professor Charlie Craddock said: “The expansion of the CCH will allow the continued growth of our world-class clinical trials programme, ensuring Birmingham will continue to lead the global fight against all forms of blood cancer.
“It will immediately increase the number of lives saved and accelerate the process towards establishing effective treatments for all forms of blood cancer within 25 years.”
Chief executive James McLaughlin said: “We resisted the temptation to recruit more staff when we committed to this because we knew that by utilising our multi-skilled and commercially experienced team of five staff we could deliver the additional £1m.
"Developing a clear strategy for our £1m appeal was key to delivering these results.”
Mr McLaughlin has also paid tribute to Wolves fans for helping the boost the appeal.
Speaking in October, he said: “The Wolves family raised a phenomenal figure last year in support of Carl, one that continues to rise in 2018.
“Everyone associated with the #TeamKemes campaign should be incredibly proud that they have played such a huge part in helping fund the expanded Centre for Clinical Haematology.”
Visit justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/cureleukaemia/ikeme to donate.
