Manchester City’s Jack Grealish has continued his habit of reaching out to those in need by donating £5,000 to a student with leukaemia who has sadly been given just “weeks to live”.
20-year-old Dylan Lamb from Staffordshire was tragically diagnosed with Precursor T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in April last year after returning home from university with complaints of lower back pain and concerning test results went on to return an “extremely high white blood cell count”.
Despite being told he was in remission in July 2022 after “intense combination chemotherapy”, nine months on from his recovery and having somehow managed to endure countless treatments, a stem cell transplant and passed his uni exams, he was informed the leukaemia had returned in the last few weeks.
Now, after being given the heartbreaking news that the aggressive form of cancer means “he will not have years, we are talking weeks, his family are hoping to raise £500,000 to send Dylan to America for a clinical trial in a last-ditch attempt at potentially life-saving treatment.
Having come across the fundraiser set up by Dylan’s mum Kim and his auntie, Kelly Payne, Grealish didn’t hesitate in donating a whopping £5k to the cause to get the ball rolling even faster.
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Moreover, after sharing the GoFundMe page on his Instagram story, awareness surrounding Dylan’s battle with leukaemia has increased exponentially and more and more people are not donating to help his family raise the money for his treatment.
After the 26-year-old City and England star shared his story, Dylan’s fundraiser has now reached over £93,000 — nearly a fifth of the minimum target — with more than 5,100 people generously donating to the page. You’re all legends, every single one of you.
As for Dylan, although his family are urging people to keep donating, they said they “cannot even begin to express enough our gratitude for all the donations, shares, and messages of support (the messages really are helping us to stay positive)…
“Please, please, please keep pushing and sharing to help get Dylan the treatment he needs and deserves. He has fought so long and hard, let’s carry him the rest of the way. Much love!”
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You can do your bit by donating to Dylan’s GoFundMe HERE and, hopefully, his family will reach their target in time to give him one last fighting chance.
Our thoughts are with his friends and family at this time and we’re all behind you, Dylan — get well soon.
Featured Image — GoFundMe/Jack Grealish (via Instagram)
Sport
Bolton fans split opinion with pitch invasion but they were the difference in the play-off semi-final
Danny Jones
The Toughsheet was hit with a huge pitch invasion by Bolton fans after the Wanderers narrowly secured their place in the League One play-off final this week, but the behaviour from those in the stadium has split opinion, to say the least.
Last Friday’s 3-1 win in the away leg gave the Trotters just enough cushion to survive the 3-2 defeat to Barnsley on Tuesday night, scraping through 5-4 on aggregate.
A tense affair was putting it mildly, especially after the home side began to let their two-nil lead from the first half slip and seeing the Tykes get just a goal away from tying things up with over a quarter of an hour still to go.
Bolton boss Ian Evatt put it best by simply saying, “We got the job done”, but as he’s stressed all season long as automatic promotion began to look less and less likely, he didn’t want his players to be premature or complacent come these final weeks. Safe to say the fans didn’t get that memo.
Yeah probably a bit embarrassing but anyone who says they wouldn’t get caught up in the emotion and do the same is lying
The scenes after Bolton secured their place in the final of the playoffs.
Although many have been defending the supporters for celebrating a massive victory which could see them back in the Championship after five years, not to mention it being the last home game of the season, plenty of others have been labelling the pitch invasion “nothing short of embarrassing”.
There have been countless comments to that effect, with people writing, “Bolton fans are weird. Pitch invasion and they aren’t even promoted yet” and “Pitch invasions for anything nowadays”. One user went so far as to argue, “Even the players must feel embarrassed”.
On the other hand, the defence that many of those are giving is that the Wanderers were close to liquidation just a few short years ago and unable to even pay their players, resorting to roping in academy players and dropping all the way to League Two in the 2020/21 season.
Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that it was a big night for Boltonians and it’s hard to pretend that being part of it would be anything other than up there with your most memorable sporting moments.
Some people say it’s tinpot for a former European side to to do a pitch invasion to celebrate setting to the league one play off final and to those people I say you’re 100% correct but you’re failing to consider the fact that pitch invasions are absolutely class 👏 pic.twitter.com/XUaxPHWZwl
As for Evatt, he told BBC Radio Manchester that the crowd was “the best it’s been since I’ve been here”, insisting that “the atmosphere was absolutely incredible” from start to finish.
When you talk of the ‘twelfth man’ in football, it’s these games that come to mind and it’s no exaggeration to say that it was the fans in the stands that helped their team ride out the storm for what must have felt like an eternity.
What do you think, is a pitch invasion before you’ve actually won anything a bit premature or do these lot deserve to soak it all in after how far they’ve come over the past year or so?
Pubs can extend their opening hours if England make it to the Euro 2024 semi-finals
Emily Sergeant
Pubs are to be permitted to extend their opening hours if England make it through to the semi-finals of EURO 2024 this summer.
With the Premier League, and the English and Scottish football leagues, all drawing to a close over the next couple of weeks, our nations are already looking ahead to what is gearing up to be a massive summer of sport – with both the UEFA EURO 2024, and the 2024 Olympics coming up before August is out.
And now, it’s been revealed by Home Secretary James Cleverly that if either England or Scotland’s mens national football teams make it to the semi-final of European football’s flagship tournament, then pubs will be allowed to stay open for longer.
But, there’s a bit of a catch… because isn’t there always?
The Government has said that venues will be allowed to stay open for an extra two hours on match days if either or both teams reach the last four or the final of the competition, but this only applies to pubs that already have a license to open until 11pm anyway.
Pubs can extend their opening hours if England make it to the Euro 2024 semi-finals / Credit: Piqsels | Wikimedia Commons
The move to extend opening hours comes after a consultation at the end of last year, and is hoped to provide a boost to the hospitality industry – which has notably been hit hard during the ongoing cost of living crisis.
The Home Secretaries in England and Wales, under Section 172 of the Licensing Act 2003, can make an order relaxing licensing hours to mark occasions of “exceptional national significance”, but the Scottish and Northern Irish Governments have to set their own rules.
“We have listened to the public through our consultation,” explained Home Secretary James Cleverley, “and we will be extending pub licensing hours should England or Scotland reach the semi-finals or final of Euro 2024.”
The EURO 2024 semi-finals are to be held on Tuesday 9 and Wednesday 10 July / Credit: UEFA
Mr Cleverley said the move will “allow friends, families and communities to come together for longer to watch their nation hopefully bring it home”.
This legislation is set to be laid in Parliament today (Wednesday 8 May) to ensure there is enough time for it to be debated and passed before the tournament begins on Friday 14 June, the Government has confirmed.