Monday 22nd August 2011

There were the best part of 20,000 reasons to celebrate at the b2net on Thursday night as three charities received their share of monies raised at the Charity football match, which included BB's Lucien Lavisconte (left), took place back in May.

Phil Walker's son Jamie was diagnosed with Lymphoma 6 years ago and is now in remission. He is now a qualified commercial pilot, beginning a job with Atlantic Airlines very soon. He is also the proud father to baby Albie.

If Jamie's career success and baby son weren't inspiration enough to anyone currently fighting the disease, both Jamie and his dad are passionate about raising money for research into the illness in order to try and prevent any other families going through what they did.

As Phil explains, "When Jamie (below, 3rd from the left) was diagnosed we were told by the consultant that if he had been diagnosed five years earlier he may not have survived".



The match held between the Spireites Legends and the Soap Stars at the b2net in May raised nearly £20,000 on the day and cheques of £6,500 were handed over by Jamie to Daniel Jillings (above right) from the Soapstars for the Shannon Bradshaw Trust, John Croot (above left) for Chesterfield Community Trust and finally to the Lymphoma Association.

It was also announced on the evening that Phil has been nominated as Fundraiser of The Year by the Lymphoma Association having organised
six charity matches which have raised a cumulative total of £85,000.

According to soap star Daniel Jillings, the award was well deserved, "I received a text from Phil earlier today that said, 'because of you, I've been nominated to be the fundraiser of the year'. Well no Phil - it's nothing to do with me, the award is down to you and all your hard work."

There will hopefully be a rematch at the end of this season at the b2net with dates being considered by both parties.

We also spoke with Daniel Jillings (ex Corrie) and Will Rush (Waterloo Road) after the presentation and they told us about the new charity they are launching 'Once Upon A Smile' - which was formally launched on Saturday's 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' by Danny Miller and the charity for which Lucien Lavisconte (who played in the match at the b2 net) is currently battling it out in the Big Brother house.

Daniel told us about the charity, " 'Once Upon A Smile' is a charity we've set up to help children dealing with terminal illnesses and their families. It could be a child who is terminally ill, or a child who has lost a parent through terminal illness. Initially we'll be able to offer family holidays to give everyone some time together, but down the line we want to be able to offer financial support to families."

He added, "It will be starting in the North West of England first, but hopefully, over the next three years, will become a national charity. We've been talking about this for months but registered it last month and it's been a huge success already.

"Our mascot, Sidley_ouas, has already trended on Twitter and our website www.onceuponasmile.org.uk will be a one stop shop; we'll continue to fundraise through our celebrity football matches and will be selling replica shirts. The lads are great - they love a game of football and they give their time for free, you can't ask for more than that. Without them it wouldn't happen. We have a team of people who travel the country."

Daniel is concentrating on setting up the charity at the moment but Will is back at his desk on Waterloo Road this week, "With a big storyline coming up which is exciting for the viewers - keep watching! There's a great new cast coming in as well as the old cast, so it's quite fresh so keep watching and see what's happening."

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