It’s
Monday evening and I’m sat shivering on a patio chair in the garden completely
drenched from a dousing of icy water. The reason? I was nominated to take part
in an ice bucket challenge to raise funds to help terminally ill Manchester lad
James McCarthy, 31, achieve some of his life ambitions.
The initiative started a few weeks ago and has since spread like wild fire on the web. The deal is that nominees have 48 hours to complete their challenge, film it and donate a tenner to the cause. Shirkers have to throw in a forfeit £100.
The most high profile nominee to fulfill his challenge so far was Cristiano Ronaldo. He was nominated by Darren Fletcher. Ronaldo in turn nominated Beyonce. God, I’d pay to see that video.
But back to the reason why people are making fools of themselves on YouTube.
In March 2009 James had a car crash while driving on the motorway. He was cut out of the vehicle, rushed to hospital and after a number of tests was diagnosed with a brain tumour the size of a fist. Emergency surgery to remove the full frontal left lobe of his brain followed.
After learning to walk, talk, read and write again he underwent six weeks of radiotherapy, while at the same time attending a kickboxing class once a week.
In the September, shortly after finishing his radiotherapy, James embarked on a degree at the University of Salford. After three solid years of graft and many weekends spent in the library, he achieved a 2:1 BSc (Hons) in Business Management.
In 2013 James started a masters degree at the University of Manchester but two months ago, after a routine follow-up scan he received the devastating news that a terminal grade 3/4 cancerous tumour had returned.
Among the items on James’ bucket list are ‘getting a religious tattoo’, ‘make a web app’ and a rather poignant ‘let people know they have their health and put their troubles aside’.
I wish him all the best and hope he completes as many of these as possible. In the mean time I nominate our goalkeeper John McIlwaine to do the challenge in the hope he takes his revenge on a few first-teamers.
You have 48 hours, sunshine!
To find out more about the cause visit www.jamesmccarthyfoundation.com
The initiative started a few weeks ago and has since spread like wild fire on the web. The deal is that nominees have 48 hours to complete their challenge, film it and donate a tenner to the cause. Shirkers have to throw in a forfeit £100.
The most high profile nominee to fulfill his challenge so far was Cristiano Ronaldo. He was nominated by Darren Fletcher. Ronaldo in turn nominated Beyonce. God, I’d pay to see that video.
But back to the reason why people are making fools of themselves on YouTube.
In March 2009 James had a car crash while driving on the motorway. He was cut out of the vehicle, rushed to hospital and after a number of tests was diagnosed with a brain tumour the size of a fist. Emergency surgery to remove the full frontal left lobe of his brain followed.
After learning to walk, talk, read and write again he underwent six weeks of radiotherapy, while at the same time attending a kickboxing class once a week.
In the September, shortly after finishing his radiotherapy, James embarked on a degree at the University of Salford. After three solid years of graft and many weekends spent in the library, he achieved a 2:1 BSc (Hons) in Business Management.
In 2013 James started a masters degree at the University of Manchester but two months ago, after a routine follow-up scan he received the devastating news that a terminal grade 3/4 cancerous tumour had returned.
Among the items on James’ bucket list are ‘getting a religious tattoo’, ‘make a web app’ and a rather poignant ‘let people know they have their health and put their troubles aside’.
I wish him all the best and hope he completes as many of these as possible. In the mean time I nominate our goalkeeper John McIlwaine to do the challenge in the hope he takes his revenge on a few first-teamers.
You have 48 hours, sunshine!
To find out more about the cause visit www.jamesmccarthyfoundation.com
No comments:
Post a Comment