Former SAFC players have been joined by around 150 fans on the Fans' Museum's Walk to raise awareness of prostate cancer.
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00:00Enjoy yourselves coming on the walk, have fun, we'll have a cup of tea when we get back.
00:04I'd just like you to listen to Michael just to tell you how the day is going to go,
00:09and obviously Brian will share a few words also.
00:12Thanks very much for your participation.
00:15Okay, and Gary, we're here for the second annual walk, which I believe is taking place today,
00:19so how important for you is it to do these walks to raise awareness of prostate cancer
00:24and the need for men to get checked out?
00:25I think it's very important. I think it's important to raise the awareness,
00:29especially for men who actually say that they're alright, but they're not alright.
00:35It's important that they go and get checked.
00:38Sometimes you don't have any symptoms at all, but there's no harm in going to the doctors
00:43and just having what we call an MOT, just to make sure everything's okay.
00:47And again, it's great today that, especially in the North East, especially in Sunderland,
00:52that we're raising the awareness and this is becoming an annual thing.
00:56And Mick, I know you're a Sunderland lad. How important is it for you to come back and support this event?
01:00Well, it's massive for me, for my family, and obviously Gary.
01:03Just echoing what Gary says, we need to raise awareness to make sure the guys go and get tested.
01:10When I was diagnosed, one of the main reasons I'm back here today and trying to raise awareness in Sunderland
01:17is the support I got from the Sunderland fan base, the people of Sunderland.
01:22It's amazing and I just want to give something back to the city and try and help as many people as we can.
01:29And that's our ambition now, is to help as many people as we can.
01:32And if we can just help one person, we've done a good job.
01:36I understand from previous walks that as a result of going on the walk last year,
01:40some men went and actually got tested. Is that right?
01:42Yeah, definitely. I was just going to touch on that with Mick raising the awareness.
01:48Again, with myself as well, the amount of people who've actually been in touch with us
01:52in regards of trying to support them, information, and again, you know, what they need to do.
01:59I understand you're also going to be raising money for Sunderland Royal Hospital as well.
02:03Is that one of the causes?
02:04Yeah, as I said, what we're doing as well, obviously on the back of Ron's walk,
02:09I think it's important especially to raise money in the North East.
02:12So it's based on South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS.
02:38Okay then Michael, so just why were the Fans Museum so keen to get involved with this event then?
02:43Obviously, we're a male-dominated sport at present.
02:46The Fans Museum has seen a great number of men come in daily,
02:51but obviously our team is male-dominant as well.
02:54Obviously, the stats show prostate cancer doesn't have any sort of prejudice
02:59who it wants to target and obviously that's one of the reasons why we want to raise the awareness campaign.
03:04I understand you're making an annual event, is that right?
03:06Yeah, that's right. Gary and Mick and many, many other former players,
03:12obviously Gary and Mick have succumbed to this hideous disease.
03:16So we want to make it an annual event starting and finishing at the Fans Museum
03:20and keep on growing it each year.
03:22And how important is it to get people like Mick and Gary involved in this campaign
03:26to get men to go and get tested?
03:27Obviously, you know, big football icons well known in the North East,
03:30so how important is it that you see these people giving this message?
03:34Well, if we're going to have a mindset to understand what people can voice,
03:40these two guys can voice it because they have got prostate cancer.
03:43Obviously, the legends in their own right on the football field,
03:46which is what, you know, we're all about in the community here.
03:49But getting the guys to do the work, you know, it's imperative to what this is about,
03:55you know, to raise an awareness campaign and that's what we want to do.
03:59We just want to keep on shouting and getting that stubbornness
04:02and that, you know, that mindset of a typical male, I'll be alright.
04:06But unfortunately, until we get checked, we're never on.