Geoff Thomas was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia in 2003.  His life was saved by a bone marrow transplant from his sister.  Since recovering from his illness, Geoff has dedicated his life to raising money to fund blood cancer treatment. 

Geoff was born a kick away from Manchester City’s old Maine Road ground in 1964.  He left school at 16 and started his working life as an electrician but in 1982 he took a pay cut to become a professional footballer.  He joined Rochdale before being spotted by Dario Gradi and moving to Crewe.

In the late 80s Steve Coppell signed him for Crystal Palace and Geoff became captain, famously leading the club to a 3-3 draw in the 1990 FA Cup final against Manchester United.  They lost the replay, but finished 3rd in the old First Division, the highest place in the club’s history.

Geoff was then spotted by England manager, Graham Taylor and he won his first cap playing in a European Championship qualifier against Turkey.  Geoff played nine times for his country and went on to play for Wolverhampton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest.

Post football, Geoff ran a designer fashion business in Birmingham but in his first year of retirement from the game, while on holiday playing tennis, he began to feel unwell.  Weeks later he was devastated to be diagnosed with leukaemia.  Without a bone marrow transplant he was told he would die.  Mercifully, his sister, Kay, proved a perfect match and Geoff is now in remission after his transplant in 2004.

Geoff began counselling other blood cancer patients and watched many of his friends lose their fight for life.  It was this experience that inspired Geoff to try to make a difference.

To date he has raised £1 million pounds for blood cancer research and his fund-raising has at times been gruelling.

In 2005 he got on his bike and cycled the 3,500km of the Tour de France route.  His experience is recounted in his book “Riding Through The Storm”.  He’s completed the London Marathon and the London-Paris Cycle Race.  He was recognised for his charity work with the BBC Sports Personality Helen Rollason Award.

Geoff’s fund-raising has now grown into the Geoff Thomas Foundation – a campaigning organisation that aims to raise £20 million to fund drug trials at six world-class centres, in Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester, Bart’s London, Oxford and Cambridge.  The goal is to ensure that by 2015 all blood cancer patients have access to potentially curative and life-enhancing treatments.

Geoff lives in Barnt Green in the West Midlands with his wife, Julie and their daughters, Madison and Georgia.

One of his friends has summed him up as: “Modest, brave, fit and photogenic”.

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