Man City player surprises fan who survived cancer at Xmas
David Silva and Micah Richards helped Manchester City to surprise a lifelong Blue with a Christmas treat.
Derrick Evans, 43, from Mossley, was diagnosed with stage four cancer in 2007 after leaving a lump for two years but was able to defeat it and started fund-raising for The Christie and Macmillan’s. He was told he only had four months to live when it returned for a second time and just eight weeks when it came back again.
Incredibly, he was able to beat the cancer three times but was unable to return to work due to the after-effects of his treatment. Having vowed to change his life once he got through it, he set up the cancer support charity Cancer Warriors to create awareness and offer support to cancer patients and now has a support and information centre in Stalybridge and monthly drop-in centres at Stamford Park and Uppermill.
When City asked fans to get in touch if they knew anyone that would appreciate a Christmas surprise, one of Derrick’s pals didn’t hesitate to put his name forward.
“Derrick has been a City fan all his life,” said Malcolm Wallington. “He is a true inspiration and I feel he deserves a special City Christmas as well as those who are also part of the Cancer Warriors team. I am proud to have him as a friend. He is a humble man and will probably try to say he does not deserve it, but he really does.”
Derrick thought he was going for a tour of the stadium with a friend who plays walking football at the Etihad on Monday but was whisked up to the stadium pub on arrival to find family and friends waiting for him.
“I’d had such a horrendous morning so I wasn’t in the best of moods. I’d had one of the worst mornings I could have possibly had, I suffer from really bad PTSD and it was through the roof and I was rushing round because I thought I was going to let my mate down so I got myself all worked out, walked in, and then realised the big surprise and just broke down in tears. I was a bit of an emotional wreck all day then – I’ve never cried so much in my life!”
And as he was coming to terms with it all, two of his favourite ever players walked through the doors to spark more happy tears.
“It was so surreal,” he said. “I got to chat to them and talk to them. I really couldn’t believe I was stood next to them to the point I had my hand on David’s shoulder and was apologising for squeezing him.
“I’m supposed to be getting married next year and I’ve had to apologise to the missus and say that I’m sorry but this might top the wedding. David’s my new profile picture on Facebook now – sorry to the missus, she’s had to go! He found it quite amusing.”
read also; It was tough watching my son fight for his life–Silva
As much as he is looking forward to getting to see a game at the stadium, Derrick was pleased that his fellow volunteers got to share the surprise this week.