Friends rally round to help out Roger
CHARITY FOOTBALL MATCH FOR PAL WITH BRAIN TUMOUR
THE friends of a Nottingham man with a brain tumour have joined forces to raise money so that he can take a break.
Roger Sutherland, 56, from Mapperley, was diagnosed with a brain tumour in December after originally thinking he had suffered a stroke.
His closest friends organised a charity football match yesterday to show their support. They want him to have a holiday with his girlfriend.
Roger said: “I feel overwhelmed by the response and reactions from people over this whole period. I want to thank everyone for their continuous support.”
Roger’s friend, Paul Frier, set up a Gofundme page to raise £1,000 but they had already raised £2,160 before the match.
Paul, 56, a retired firefighter from Long Eaton, has been close friends with Roger for more than 43 years. He said: “This was the first time I have done anything like this so I did not know how it was going to go.
“I sat with our friend, Ian Henry, a couple of weeks ago at my house and we put it together and then it just kind of snowballed from there.
We have had loads of messages of support, saying that they are going to contribute on the day. So the funds could go crazy, but it is absolutely unbelievable that we raised the funds so quickly. “There have been so many messages of support and best wishes that it means so much to Roger to hear all these messages.” Roger and Paul have played football together for many years. The match was at Radford FC playing against AC Wollaton.
Paul said before the match: “I am picking Roger up on Sunday and I am going to be by his side all the way through because I think it will be overwhelming for him, but he feels that he is not worthy of having all of this attention.
“It’s just that he just can’t believe that all of this money has been donated and we are doing it for him. He gets quite emotional when I talk to him about it and why we are doing it. We have reached our target now. “I would like to personally thank everybody for their donations and well wishes to Roger.” Roger grew up in St Ann’s and went to Manvers Comprehensive School. He works for Midland Regional Printers but has not worked since late last year due to his illness.
I feel overwhelmed by the response and reactions from people over this whole period
Roger Sutherland