Earlier this year, fans and staff at Aston Villa Football Club learnt that their club captain, Stiliyan Petrov had been diagnosed with acute leukaemia. With Petrov a fit and healthy 32-year old, it was a huge shock to the whole sporting community and a horrible reminder that cancer can affect anyone.
Masseurs at the club Andrew Smith and Alex Butler (pictured above with former footballer Geoff Thomas), have decided to set themselves a huge challenge in support of their friend. They’re planning to ‘Pedal for Petrov’, cycling from Celtic Park (home of Petrov’s former club Celtic FC) to Petrov’s current ground, Villa Park. Not only that, they hope to raise £250,000 for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research in the process. So far, they’ve raised over £31,000.
Supporting ‘Pedal for Petrov’
You can show your support by donating to ‘Pedal for Petrov’ here. You can also donate by text to Alex and Andrew’s page. Text STAN91 followed by an amount (either £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10) to 70070.
Here’s what Alex had to say about why they’ve set themselves such a huge challenge.
As masseurs for AVFC, we’ve grown to know and love Stan over the past 5 years and boy has he kept us busy during that time. We miss him in our little bat cave and we, like so many others, want him back as soon as possible. Stan has always been there for myself and Andrew and we will always be grateful for everything he has done for us.
Alex and Andrew are set to start cycling on Tuesday 4th September, hoping to arrive at Villa Park just over a week later.
How can you follow in Alex and Andrew’s fundraising footsteps?
Looking at Alex and Andrew’s page, one thing that really caught our attention was how they’ve kept it updated.
Giving your page short, frequent updates is really easy with our update tool. Not only does it keep your page looking fresh, it will also let your supporters know how you’re progressing.
Like Alex and Andrew, you could update your page with training updates or thank people who have already donated. You could also update your page as you countdown to your event, letting people know how excited or anxious you’re feeling.
Have you been making great use of the page update tool? We’d love to see. Leave us a comment in the blog below with a link to your fundraising page.
Good luck with the cycle guys!
Tags: aston villa football club, AVFC, Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, Pedal for Petrov, Stiliyan Petrov