Team Verrico will be hosting a bucket collection as our charity partner for Saturday’s game with Bradford City.
Founded by lifelong SUFC supporters Paul and Anna Verrico, the charity’s genesis arose out of the untimely illness and ultimate death of Anna from a rare breast cancer.
Now five years strong, the charity’s mission is to fight alongside those afflicted by cancer to achieve positive outcomes, bringing hope where there is none, creating ‘more tomorrows.’
This is developed via three main spheres of activity:
> The most important is to support men and women who have children under the age of 18, who face a rare or hard to treat cancer and who are sent for private consultations with the leading oncologists and surgeons in the UK. This often results in a change to treatment plans. The charity also fund genetic testing and other scientifically proven methods of treating the disease.
> Sphere 2 is practical assistance. The charity supports those affected by cancer, including the patient and their family by counselling through the diagnosis and beyond, also offering support such as childcare on chemotherapy days or a cleaner to help during intensive treatment. This also provides hotel stays for a spouse where a family member is receiving treatment hundreds of miles away or food parcels in the immediate aftermath of a death.
> Sphere 3 is research. Team Verrico supports niche research projects which do not receive funding from Cancer Research as they either focus on rare cancers or are too small to attract funding. The charity currently has projects running at University of Sheffield, University of Brighton and Cardiff University.
Find out more information at www.teamverrico.org.
Paul Verrico also sponsors Josh Morris’ home kit so will be hoping for the midfielder to weigh in with one of the goals to keep the Iron’s League One survival hopes alive.