The club deserve credit sometimes

[The 12th Marquis of Sixfields]

With all the negativity being posted about the club at the moment I just thought the club deserve credit for when they do things off the pitch that people would otherwise not hear about so I thought I would post the following to make you all aware what they did for my 14 year old son on Thursday.

My son Ben was a ball boy at Sixfields last season until we received devasting news that he had hodgkins lymphoma. After visiting Queens medical centre in Nottingham for initial diagnosis and PET scans etc. in early November 2011 he started chemotherapy on Disney ward  at Northampton general hospital. The chemotherapy was successful and in January 2012 he was in remission. In Semptember 2012 we noticed he had another lump on his neck and at one of his 3 monthly check ups he was again referred to QMC Nottingham where a biopsy revealed that the hodgkins lymphoma had unfortunately returned. A PET scan revealed that the cancer was also in his chest and not just the neck.

On 1st October 2012 Ben started chemotherapy again this time a much more intense chemo cycle to 'blast' the cancer cells. He was very ill for most of that week.
The club found out about Ben's illness and Gareth Willsher (head of media) emailed me and said they were sorry to hear about Bens illness and asked if there was anything they could do. He also mentioned Ben's plight to Aidy Boothroyd. Aidy then invited Ben down to Sixfields for the day.

We arrived at 9.30am where Gareth greeted us an then Aidy got Ben to sit next to him during his press conference. Gareth then took us to the meet the players before they went to their training session. Bayo then asked ben if he was joining them for training and gave ben a lift in his car to the training ground. Me and the wife arrived at the ground where players and backroom staff were looking after Ben. Aidy and Bayo got Ben involved with the training a bit (Ben cant do too much has he has a hickman line). Pete Norton then took a photo of Ben with the squad (to be printed in the Bradford City program on 23rd October). Bayo gave Ben a lift back to Sixfields where me, my wife and Ben joined Aidy and some of the squad for lunch.

At the end of the day we went to the gym (beacause Ben wanted to say goodbye to Bayo) Ben had a photo taken with Bayo (my twitter followers probably saw the pic as I retweeted it after Bayo posted it)  and Bayo then promised Ben one of his beastmode t shirts.

We had a great day and I would like to thank Gareth Willsher, Aidy Boothroyd and the whole squad especially Bayo for making Ben forget his illness for the day.

in youth parlance: Like. Retweeted

[The 12th Marquis of Sixfields]

First of all, best of luck to your lad, Abington.

Secondly, for all the stick they get we can all be proud of how our club really will go out of their way to help supporters out. I found this out myself a while back when I was accused of doing something by the police. I'm not being deliberately vague there by saying "something", I literally never found out what it was; I just received a letter saying that I had been accused of an involvement in a crime (not what or where exactly it was, just a date, time and that it was in Northampton).

They flatly refused to give me any details of what it was about and told me it could take up to 6 months to sort out and to be honest it's pretty upsetting to have something like that hanging over you.

Where the club come in is that I realised at the time this mysterious event was apparently happening, I'd have been at Sixfields watching a game! I dropped Gareth Wilsher an email to ask if the club keep any official records about time keeping that I could use if I needed to back up where I was (it wouldn't be proof, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to have accurate times to back myself up if I needed to). I really didn't expect much back but within the space of a couple of hours Gareth had, in his own time in the evening, replied with an email that explained while the club didn't have official records about times he had put together a detailed breakdown of events in the game (which had been a couple of months earlier) that gave me an account of approximately when the game finished.

Anyway, after several letters and numerous phone calls the police eventually sent me a letter saying they wouldn't be taking the matter any further, but my overriding memory of the whole affair is how much of a star Gareth had been. There can't be many clubs about that have such dedicated staff who will go that extra mile to help when they really don't have to.

GW does a lot for the club, I remember back around the late 90s when he used to sit around 4 seats away from me in the north. You can bring in the best people in their field but sometimes they just wont have the dedication that a fan will have

[The Hask]

Yes it is these little touches that separate average football clubs against great football clubs and too often people only want to be critical.

I have no doubt that this day will help Ben fight harder through some of the tougher days of treatment and offer my very best wishes that he is better soon.

[did.cobbler]

Best of luck to you and yours

[Trotty]

Well done to the club and best wishes to you AC, Ben and your family.

[Artlenock Cobbler]

I hope Ben makes a full recovery A_C, it must be a very tough time for all concerned. It's heartwarming to hear how the club have been pro active in their support so well done to NTFC too. 

[guest49]

I follow you on Twitter and didn't know it was you 

All the best to you, Ben and your family. It sounds like Ben had a 'money can't buy' day and fair play to AB, Bayo and co for going the extra mile, real heartwarming stuff.
From what you see on Twitter, Bayo has always got time for the fans.

[Realale]

Great job from the club, well done everyone at NTFC.

Keep fighting Ben, we are all behind you 100%.

[lordjord]

Many thanks for sharing, Ben sounds like a hell of a fighter! all the best.