Sports pundit Gary Lineker remains close to the hospital his son George battled leukaemia in as a newborn.
George spent the first several months of his life battling the cancer with his father by his side. No more than two months after he was born he spent the following seven in Great Ormond Street Hospital after being diagnosed with leukaemia.
The sports pundit admitted he still feels indebted to the charities that helped his family at the time which is why he remains doing everything he can to give back. 30 years on, George remains healthy as ever but now the Linekers are back at the hospital whose “FINISH-IT!” campaign seeks to raise £10 million for a new National Children’s Blood Cancer Trials Network.
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Former England international and friend of Gary’s Geoff Thomas is a patron of Cure Leukaemia and has raised millions since he was diagnosed himself back in 2003. Speaking to the Mirror, Gary said: "I got involved in it because of Geoff [Thomas]."
"We feel indebted to charities that raise money to get research that enabled George to have the life he has had because without that amount of research and people putting money in that research he wouldn’t be in that position today."
Gary admitted he is still in touch with one of the nurses that worked with George and remains good friends with their family. When discussing returning to the hospital, he said it still strikes a chord with him regarding how emotional it can be.
He said: "It always gets to me, sitting there watching a parent sitting next to their child knowing it’s touch-and-go, it’s hard. But you smile, it’s lovely to take George in, he’s 30 years old and he was given very, very little chance and here he is.
“If you can just give them a glimmer of hope, it’s not going to make any difference to their treatment, but if it makes them feel good or gives them a nice experience for a day or so. It’s really weird talking about yourself having an impact on people because it feels a bit odd. But you do get lovely references about it and people do seem to really like that sort of thing."
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