Over 100 fans join football legends Gary Bennett and Mick Harford on Fans' Museum's prostate cancer awareness walk

Sunderland Echo

Former SAFC players have been joined by around 150 fans on the Fans' Museum's Walk to raise awareness of prostate cancer.

Transcript

00:00Enjoy yourselves coming on the walk, have fun, we'll have a cup of tea when we get back.

00:04I'd just like you to listen to Michael just to tell you how the day is going to go,

00:09and obviously Brian will share a few words also.

00:12Thanks very much for your participation.

00:15Okay, and Gary, we're here for the second annual walk, which I believe is taking place today,

00:19so how important for you is it to do these walks to raise awareness of prostate cancer

00:24and the need for men to get checked out?

00:25I think it's very important. I think it's important to raise the awareness,

00:29especially for men who actually say that they're alright, but they're not alright.

00:35It's important that they go and get checked.

00:38Sometimes you don't have any symptoms at all, but there's no harm in going to the doctors

00:43and just having what we call an MOT, just to make sure everything's okay.

00:47And again, it's great today that, especially in the North East, especially in Sunderland,

00:52that we're raising the awareness and this is becoming an annual thing.

00:56And Mick, I know you're a Sunderland lad. How important is it for you to come back and support this event?

01:00Well, it's massive for me, for my family, and obviously Gary.

01:03Just echoing what Gary says, we need to raise awareness to make sure the guys go and get tested.

01:10When I was diagnosed, one of the main reasons I'm back here today and trying to raise awareness in Sunderland

01:17is the support I got from the Sunderland fan base, the people of Sunderland.

01:22It's amazing and I just want to give something back to the city and try and help as many people as we can.

01:29And that's our ambition now, is to help as many people as we can.

01:32And if we can just help one person, we've done a good job.

01:36I understand from previous walks that as a result of going on the walk last year,

01:40some men went and actually got tested. Is that right?

01:42Yeah, definitely. I was just going to touch on that with Mick raising the awareness.

01:48Again, with myself as well, the amount of people who've actually been in touch with us

01:52in regards of trying to support them, information, and again, you know, what they need to do.

01:59I understand you're also going to be raising money for Sunderland Royal Hospital as well.

02:03Is that one of the causes?

02:04Yeah, as I said, what we're doing as well, obviously on the back of Ron's walk,

02:09I think it's important especially to raise money in the North East.

02:12So it's based on South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS.

02:38Okay then Michael, so just why were the Fans Museum so keen to get involved with this event then?

02:43Obviously, we're a male-dominated sport at present.

02:46The Fans Museum has seen a great number of men come in daily,

02:51but obviously our team is male-dominant as well.

02:54Obviously, the stats show prostate cancer doesn't have any sort of prejudice

02:59who it wants to target and obviously that's one of the reasons why we want to raise the awareness campaign.

03:04I understand you're making an annual event, is that right?

03:06Yeah, that's right. Gary and Mick and many, many other former players,

03:12obviously Gary and Mick have succumbed to this hideous disease.

03:16So we want to make it an annual event starting and finishing at the Fans Museum

03:20and keep on growing it each year.

03:22And how important is it to get people like Mick and Gary involved in this campaign

03:26to get men to go and get tested?

03:27Obviously, you know, big football icons well known in the North East,

03:30so how important is it that you see these people giving this message?

03:34Well, if we're going to have a mindset to understand what people can voice,

03:40these two guys can voice it because they have got prostate cancer.

03:43Obviously, the legends in their own right on the football field,

03:46which is what, you know, we're all about in the community here.

03:49But getting the guys to do the work, you know, it's imperative to what this is about,

03:55you know, to raise an awareness campaign and that's what we want to do.

03:59We just want to keep on shouting and getting that stubbornness

04:02and that, you know, that mindset of a typical male, I'll be alright.

04:06But unfortunately, until we get checked, we're never on.

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