UK Charities Partner On Cancer Deadline Day Campaign
January 8, 2020
Eight cancer charities have come together this week to launch Cancer Deadline Day in the UK - a new campaign building up to football’s Transfer Deadline Day which will see funds raised for the various organisations.
Transfer Deadline Day is one of the biggest days of the year for football fans and the British media, as clubs throughout the country spend millions of pounds on signing new players before the transfer window closes for several months.
Ahead of the final day of football’s transfer period on 1st February, Cancer Deadline Day is calling on all fans, players, clubs and legends of the game to make a donation in aid charities tackling the disease. Donations to the campaign will be split between Breast Cancer Now, CLIC Sargent, Macmillan Cancer Support, Pancreatic Cancer UK, Prostate Cancer UK, The Ruth Strauss Foundation, Sir Bobby Robson Foundation and Teenage Cancer Trust.
Football fan bases will compete to get their club to the top of the giving table by raising the most amount of money by the end of deadline day on 1st February. To make a donation, fans can back their team through a club-specific donation page, powered by JustGiving, and select any amount. They will also be encouraged to nominate five other fans on social.
According to the charities, COVID-19 has had a direct impact on people living with cancer, as well as on fundraising for charities that support them.
New research by Macmillan Cancer Support estimates there are 50,000 ‘missing diagnoses’ for cancer across the UK, because of the disruption caused by the pandemic, with at least 33,000 fewer people across the UK started treatment in 2020, compared to 2019. According to the charity, the backlog of undiagnosed cancer could take 18 months to tackle in England alone.
Paul Brown, Director, Teenage Cancer Trust, said: “Teenagers and young people with cancer have been hit really hard by the pandemic. Many have been shielding and unable to see their friends and are concerned that their treatment could be disrupted. Others fear catching the virus while their immune system is lowered, and some have had to face hospital visits and stays without loved ones due to infection control measures. They need help from our specialist nurses and support teams more than ever, but coronavirus has had a severe impact on Teenage Cancer Trust’s income, slashing it by a third; a shortfall of around £6m a year."