A Nottingham Forest fan who attends a Mapperley hospice has received free match tickets from the club after they heard of his ongoing battle with a brain tumour.
Alan, who lives in Sneinton, has dysphasia as a result of the tumour, meaning although he can still talk about Forest and things he knows very well, he has difficulty with less familiar words.
He has been going to matches at the City Ground since the 1970s and became a season ticket-holder when he retired.
His partner Jean Blacow said: “Alan lost confidence earlier in the year and stopped going out and doing things with his friends,”
“My daughter and her boyfriend are also diehard Forest fans and they had recently a whip-round their friends to buy Alan Castle Club tickets for the Arsenal match – he gets panicky in crowds and that was the only option where you got a covered, quiet space.”
Alan has stopped receiving treatment now, so the couple are focusing on making the most of their time together.
After a friend of the couple got in touch, Forest have confirmed they are giving four complimentary hospitality tickets to Alan for their home game against Huddersfield on April 8th.
Jean has also been in the news recently, as she has raised over £1600 for Nottinghamshire Hospice, based near Mapperley, where Alan attends Day Therapy twice a week. Jean’s challenge was an 8-hour sponsored silence back in December to highlight Alan’s struggle to produce words.
Jean got plenty of support on the day, including staff and patients at the Queen’s Medical Centre, where Alan had a MRI appointment, and Rebecca Lister of Becca’s Facepainting, who painted a zip across Jean’s mouth to help her meet the challenge.
Food was provided by Dave Fitzmaurice – another seasoned Forest fan – at the ‘King Billy’ pub on Eyre Street, where Jean counted down the last two hours.
“A lot of people tried to put me off, but I didn’t let them! Come half past six, I did swear a lot though,” Jean added.
Nottinghamshire Hospice provide care, counselling and social activities for people like Alan with life-limiting illnesses, across Nottinghamshire. You can still donate in support of Jean and Alan through Jean’s JustGiving page, www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jean-blacow.
Lets hope the lads get a win for brave Alan
Good work, Forest.