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Soccer coach sitting on health time bomb
A SOCCER coach fighting cancer will be saluted when fellow club members take a freezing dip in the Irish Sea.
Popular manager of Fleetwood Gym under-10s Mick Young has been battling against leukaemia for five years and usually takes part in the charity plunge on January 1.
This time, however, as he hopes for a bone marrow transplant, he is under doctor's orders to sit on the sidelines.
But the sponsored New Year's Day dip by the Gym will be run in aid of the Windmill Appeal as a thank-you for the treatment Mr Young has had at the Blackpool Victoria Hospital cancer unit.
Mr Young, 47, of Shakespeare Road, Fleetwood, a former fish delivery driver, is unable to work but continues to look after his young team at Fleetwood Town.
He said: "It's an outside interest that keeps me going.
"It's good for me and stops me worrying about my condition."
The father-of-two had a stemcell transplant four years ago but last year had to undergo six months chemotherapy.
Now he is on the register for a bone marrow transplant having been very unlucky in his search for a family donor.
He said: "I have five brothers and sisters and not one is a match – it's the luck of the draw.
"There is a shortage of donors. They have gone through the register once for me and now they are checking every three months.
"We would like to make people aware that the transplant is a fairly simple procedure where the donor just gives blood. If there is a match, it isn't such a big thing as it was a few years ago."
His wife Christine added: "There are still lots of people who are unaware that it's a worry day-in day-out and don't know he has been ill.
"He doesn't tell people, all they know is this big, bubbly person and when they find out he is ill it comes as a shock to them. It's a time bomb. We never know when it's going to erupt and how it's going to erupt.
"It's a blood condition that can attack organs and stop them working.
"We don't know what's going to happen."
Gym football secretary Barry Whittaker said: "Mick has been involved for 10 years and he has been one of our main coaches.
"He won a special achievement award at our presentations this year for what he has done. He is very well respected at the club."
Sponsorship forms for the New Year's Day dip are available from the Gazette office on Lord Street, Fleetwood.
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Weather for Blackpool
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Light sleet
Temperature: 1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: South east
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Light sleet
Temperature: -3 C to 3 C
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