An England supporter on Thursday won praise after he gave up tickets to watch the Euro 2020 semi-final against Denmark to donate life-saving stem cells.
Sam Astley, 24, from Sedgley, England, was set to attend the game at Wembley Stadium in London on Wednesday evening after his girlfriend won tickets in a competition, but he gave up the chance and watched the match from a hospital bed after he volunteered to donate stem cells and bone marrow to help a blood cancer sufferer through UK charity Anthony Nolan after being informed he matched with a patient.
He and his girlfriend gave their tickets to relatives.
Astley’s story was initially reported by local newspaper Stourbridge News, but was then picked up more widely, including on social media, such as the Twitter account of former England striker Gary Lineker, now a BBC anchor with 8 million followers.
“Amazing. Can you help @FA @England?” Lineker wrote on Twitter.
An official sponsor of Euro 2020, smartphone company Vivo Europe, later wrote on Twitter that it wanted to help Astley attend the final.
“We saw this and would like to help Sam go to the final on Sunday,” the company wrote. “Sam deserves to be at the game and we want to make it happen!”
A Vivo Europe spokesman told Stourbridge News that it had arranged for Astley and his girlfriend to attend the final as guests, to thank him for “his selfless lifesaving donation.”
Anthony Nolan chief executive Henny Braund wrote that Astley was a “hero” on Twitter.
The BBC reported that Astley underwent a procedure to remove bone marrow containing stem cells from his hip bones.
Astley posted online a picture of him in a hospital bed on Thursday, thanking Lineker and others for “all the wonderful messages,” and saying that the procedure went well and he was recovering.
Anthony Nolan finds stem cell donors whose tissue is a close genetic match to blood cancer patients, so that it can be used as a transplant, giving them the best chance of survival.
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