Bolton Wanderers are delighted to be able to announce that the fund-raising weekend in aid of Gethin Jones’ family appeal and MND raised over £100,000.
An ‘All Star’ match featuring a team of club legends against the current Wanderers’ squad and a black-tie dinner and sporting goods’ auction generated a total of £108,000 thanks to the generosity of supporters and sponsors who kindly backed both events.
The money will go to help pay for treatment, care and support for Karen Jones – the mother of Wanderers’ defender Gethin and his brother and sister Dylan and Ela – who was diagnosed with MND in July.
A quarter of the sum raised by the Jones’ family – who have also been holding fund-raising events around their home in North Wales and via a Just Giving page in the hope of reaching £250,000 – will also go to the Darby Rimmer Foundation to help fund research into Motor Neurone Disease.
Gethin Jones said: “This is a magnificent amount of money which will go a long way towards reaching the total we set ourselves to help provide care for mum and also hopefully help others suffering from the condition through the superb work of the Darby Rimmer Foundation.
“As a family, we can’t thank everyone enough for their kindness and support.
“We are so grateful to the club, led by Sharon, for staging the two events and to all the staff, former players and team-mates who made both such an enjoyable and successful occasion.
“Most of all, though, we would like to thank all the supporters and sponsors who attended and gave so generously to help support our cause.
“To see over 13,000 people inside the stadium for the legends’ match meant so much to our mum and whole family and is something we will never forget.
“We consider ourselves lucky to be part of the Wanderers’ ‘family’.”
Karen Jones – a former midwife who has travelled to the United States where she has been accepted onto an MND drugs’ trial programme – attended the ‘All Star’ game at the University of Bolton Stadium earlier this month when she met up with chairman and club owner Sharon Brittan.
Sharon said: “I was privileged to spend some time with Karen and her incredible family.
“Gethin’s mum and dad, Karen and Gareth, are brave and remarkable people, who touched my heart in the most meaningful of ways.
“We were proud, and honoured, to have been able to stage these two events which, thanks to the generosity of our wonderful supporters, were such a success in raising this magnificent sum.
“Ian and his team, Sam Allardyce and the former players, and all the club staff who helped stage the weekend did a superb job and I am equally grateful to them for their effort in supporting such a worthwhile cause.
“Karen devoted her working life to others and it is only appropriate we do what we can to help her and her family in return.
“We will continue to be there for them all beyond the success and collective spirit of the fund-raising weekend, which I believe epitomised everything Bolton Wanderers stands for.”