Gary Lineker shows his true colours with strong message after family battle

Gary Lineker is a patron of Cure Leukaemia
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


Gary Lineker has thrown his support behind a pioneering new initiative close to his heart following his son's childhood health battles.

The Match of the Day host and former England striker is the patron of Cure Leukaemia and has welcomed the launch of the blood cancer charity's ATICUS Network. Lineker first linked up with the Birmingham-based national organisation in September 2022 when he got behind their Finish It campaign. He was made patron in June this year and continues to be vocal around Cure Leukaemia's efforts to support youngsters with the disease.

His enthusiastic involvement stems from his son George's own battle with the illness when he was a baby back in the early 1990s. George, now in his thirties, made a full recovery and the family want to give all kids the best possible opportunity to do the same.

Cure Leukaemia's latest project The ATICUS Network is a collaboration between 11 1 leading UK Children’s Hospitals to revolutionize clinical trial access for children battling blood cancer.

Gary and then-wife Michelle with baby George in the early 1990s -Credit:Image: Vic Crawshaw/Daily Mirror
Gary and then-wife Michelle with baby George in the early 1990s -Credit:Image: Vic Crawshaw/Daily Mirror

Lineker said: “Four children every day are diagnosed with blood cancer in the UK, affecting children as young as 3 months old, and is the most common cancer in children and teens, including my son George who was less than a year old when he was diagnosed.

"The ATICUS Network is groundbreaking in the blood cancer landscape and will provide hope to so many children and their families - and just needs funding. We shouldn’t be relying on patients, their families and friends to fundraise through crazy challenges to fund the Research Nurses required to open the ATICUS network."

ATICUS stands for Accelerating Trials in Children Undergoing Stem Cell Transplant. London's Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, where George was treated more than three decades ago, is among the hospitals taking part along with Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. These are the others: Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, The Royal Marsden Hospital (Surrey), Great North Children’s Hospital (Newcastle), Royal Hospital For Children (Glasgow), Leeds Children Hospital, Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, St Mary’s Hospital (London) and University College London Hospital (London).

Cure Leukaemia's The ATICUS Network (Accelerating Trials in Children Undergoing Stem Cell Transplant) is being launched at 11 hospitals across the UK. -Credit:
Cure Leukaemia's The ATICUS Network (Accelerating Trials in Children Undergoing Stem Cell Transplant) is being launched at 11 hospitals across the UK. -Credit:

On a trip back to Great Ormond Street Hospital with George in 2022, Lineker told our sister title The Mirror: "It always gets to me, sitting there watching a parent sitting next to their child knowing it’s touch-and-go, it’s hard. But you smile, it’s lovely to take George in, he’s 30 years old and he was given very, very little chance and here he is."

The former Leicester City, Everton, Barcelona, Tottenham Hotspur and Nagoya Grampus Eight centre forward added: “If you can just give them a glimmer of hope, it’s not going to make any difference to their treatment, but if it makes them feel good or gives them a nice experience for a day or so. It’s really weird talking about yourself having an impact on people because it feels a bit odd. But you do get lovely references about it and people do seem to really like that sort of thing."

Under Cure Leukaemia's new scheme, for the first time, children living with blood cancer across the nation will have access to potentially life-saving, innovative treatments through this national clinical trial infrastructure. The ATICUS Network brings together the UK’s leading paediatric clinicians and research nurses to deliver cutting-edge, practice-changing clinical trials aimed at improving outcomes for children undergoing stem cell transplants.

Professor Rob Wynn of Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, a key figure in the ATICUS initiative, emphasized the importance of national collaboration to fast-track access to clinical trials for young patients.

“Our aim as children’s doctors is to cure our patients so that they can live their life as if they never had the illness in the first place," he said. "It’s vital we incorporate these transformative new therapies into routine care as quickly as possible. This can only be done by increasing access to clinical trials of these new treatments. Access to clinical trials requires a funded national trial infrastructure, which we currently lack in the UK. Without such an infrastructure, real treatments that might help real children with blood cancer are often not available in the UK.”

To help fund the ATICUS Network and ensure that these trials can start as soon as possible, Cure Leukaemia recently launched its Club 10 initiative, calling on businesses across the UK to pledge £10,000.

Cure Leukaemia CEO James McLaughlin. -Credit:
Cure Leukaemia CEO James McLaughlin. -Credit:

CEO of Cure Leukaemia, James McLaughlin, highlighted the critical need for funding, saying: “The ATICUS Network is established and ready to go, but we now need the necessary funding to begin trials and improve the blood cancer landscape for children across the UK. These trials could deliver practice-changing treatments that will save lives, but we need support to make that a reality.”

The CEO has recently completed his own challenge to raise money for the charity. He ran more than 220 miles across 14 days through 16 different cities in an attempt to generate £100,000, with the pledge total currently at £85,000 and counting. You can make a donation here.

For more information about The ATICUS Network or to join the Club 10 initiative, visit the Cure Leukaemia website here.