Birmingham City’s charity work with Cure Leukaemia is set to reach new heights this month. Ahead of International Nurses Day on Saturday, May 12th, Blues are aiming to fund a Cure Leukaemia specialist research nurse for a year.
Cure Leukaemia, the Club’s official charity partner, has set a target of £45,000 – the cost to fund a nurse at the Centre of Clinical Haematology at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.
The nurse will give blood cancer patients, that have exhausted standard treatments for the disease, access to potentially life-extending or life-saving clinical trials.
To achieve the target, Blues are offering fans the opportunity to add £1 to their ticket purchase price for Sunday’s final home match of the season against Fulham. In addition, all funds raised at the 2018 Birmingham City Awards on 7th May will also contribute towards the campaign.
£10,500 has already been raised through the Club’s overseas golf event in March and fans can donate what they can via Cure Leukaemia’s BCFC JustGiving page.
“To potentially have a Birmingham City Cure Leukaemia funded nurse is fantastic,” said Xuandong Ren, BCFC Chief Executive and Director.
“Our charity partnership with Cure Leukaemia is going from strength to strength and by funding a nurse this will help blood cancer patients across Birmingham and beyond to potentially life-extending treatment.”
Birmingham City fan Lizzie Dean who is currently battling acute myeloid leukaemia said: “This campaign is bringing two of my favourite things together; the Blues and Cure Leukaemia.
It’s been a tough season but if the fans can unite and support Cure Leukaemia as they have done with the team I’m confident we can hit this target. To have a Birmingham City-funded nurse would mean the world to me and many other patients being treated for this horrible disease.”
Cure Leukaemia CEO James McLaughlin said: “This is an inspirational fundraising idea from Birmingham City leading up to International Nurses Day and we are immensely grateful to the staff and fans for setting this target.
It will allow us to fund a vital specialist research nurse position at the globally significant Centre for Clinical Haematology which will not only help save lives but also help hasten progress towards eradicating blood cancer worldwide.”