For former England and Crystal Palace footballer, Geoff Thomas, running is a matter of life or death. Britain’s athletes may be preparing for the World Championships in Berlin but, for Thomas, who’s training for the EDF Energy Birmingham Half Marathon on October 11th, the stakes are much higher than simply winning a medal.
Weeks after retiring from football in 2003, Thomas was given three months to live after being diagnosed with leukaemia. Mercifully, his sister’s bone marrow was a perfect match and his life was saved by a stem-cell transplant at Birmingham’s University Hospital. Thomas still had to endure months of gruelling full-body radiation and chemotherapy, coupled with a cocktail of drugs to prevent rejection of his transplant.
Since his illness, Thomas has dedicated his life to raising money for blood cancer treatment and campaigns for improved treatment for leukaemia patients. Two years ago, he set up the Geoff Thomas Foundation, which has just been named as one of the charity partners for this year’s EDF Energy Birmingham Half Marathon in October. The race will be staged alongside the 18th IAAF World Half Marathon Championship, the last global athletics event to be held in Britain before London hosts the 2012 Olympics.
The Foundation is trying to raise money to fund blood cancer nurses who will administer new life-saving blood cancer drugs. It is trying to set up treatment centres in Birmingham, Oxford, London, Cambridge, Manchester and Nottingham.
“I was one of the lucky ones,” explained 44-year-old Thomas. “My life was saved by a stem-cell transplant. Other patients need state-of-the-art drugs to keep them alive and they’re just not getting to the patients who need them.
“We spend billions on medical research in this country but the drugs the scientists are inventing are just sitting on shelves in the lab because we don’t have the infrastructure to get the drugs from the scientist’s lab to the hospital bedside,” added Thomas, who has so far raised £1 million.
His fundraising has included twice cycling the Tour de France route, riding the London-Paris Cycle Tour and running both the London and New York marathons.
“When I was a footballer I just did a bit of jogging round the pitch now and then but after my life was saved I couldn’t just sit around doing nothing while other people were dying,” said Thomas, who has counselled blood cancer patients and seen many of his friends die.
“I started running to get myself back into full fitness and then I realised that my running could make a real difference to other people with blood cancer and that’s when the fundraising started,” added Thomas, who persuaded former team-mate Ian Wright to ride part of the Tour de France route with him in 2007.
Last year, Thomas completed two marathons, posting 4.27 in London and clocking 4.24 in New York, though his wife, Julie, beat him with 4.18. “That really hurt and she’s not let me forget it,” said Thomas, who also managed 2.10 in the Great North Run in 2006.
Thomas trains in a gym near his home in Bromsgrove and runs over Worcestershire’s Clent Hills. For the EDF Energy Birmingham Half Marathon, Thomas is aiming for 1.50 and wants to turn the city green, the colour of the GTF. “Locally, I run with The Barnt Green Chuggers and hopefully a few of us will be running in the green GTF vest,” he said. “We’re hoping to persuade a few of my old football mates to join us and it would be wonderful if we could get a really big team of football fans and club runners to run in Birmingham in the GTF kit and raise some money for us.
“Running and fundraising go hand-in-hand and it’s been a big part of what we do at the Foundation. We’ve had some of our best moments when we’ve been out pounding the streets. New York was an amazing experience last year and with Birmingham also hosting an IAAF world event this year, there’s going to be a real buzz about the city. Hopefully, it’ll give us all a taste of what it’ll be like in London in 2012,” said Thomas.
Thomas was born a stone’s throw away from Manchester City’s Maine Road ground and he started his working life as an electrician, before taking a pay cut to sign for Rochdale. He then joined Crewe and in the late 80s Steve Coppell signed him for Crystal Palace. Thomas was appointed captain and famously led the club to a 3-3 draw in the 1990 FA Cup final against Manchester United.
Thomas was then spotted by England manager, Graham Taylor and won his first cap playing in a European Championship qualifier against Turkey. He played nine times for his country and went on to play for Wolverhampton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest.
“Sport has always been part of my life but it’s taken on a new meaning since being diagnosed with cancer. I appreciate it more. Just being able to put on my running shoes and get out there is a joy. When you’ve stared death in the face and survived, life becomes even more precious,” he said.
“It’s also made me appreciate the power of sport more. It’s remarkable that putting on your trainers and running vest can help to save somebody’s life. It’s that thought that keeps me going when I hit the tough times out on the road. I just picture someone desperate for a new blood cancer drug and I kick on,” Thomas said.
Anyone wishing to join Team GTF for the EDF Energy Birmingham Half Marathon can contact:
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or call 07796 681299. For more information about the GTF: www.geoffthomasfoundation.com For details of the EDF Energy Birmingham Half Marathon: www.birminghamhalfmarathon.com.
