Let's back Zac: England star Jermain Defoe supports Shropshire youngster's £500,000 appeal - watch the video
Jermain Defoe, the Premier League and England footballer, has thrown his weight behind a campaign to raise £500,000 to treat seriously ill Shropshire youngster Zac Oliver.
Defoe, who captured the heart of the nation with his friendship with terminally ill youngster Bradley Lowery, posted a video urging people to support Zac's campaign on his Jermain Defoe Foundation social media accounts.
The Bournemouth Striker said: "Hi everyone, I want to tell you about this little boy named Zac.
"He's just been diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia, which is a blood cancer.
"He needs to raise funds for the family to go to America for this treatment because it's the only place they can get it."
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Zac, from Broseley, has an extremely rare form of childhood leukaemia, called Near Haploid, and needs to travel to the US for treatment unavailable on the NHS.
His family need to raise £500,000 to get to Philadelphia for the CAR-T therapy, and they are organising a ‘wear red for Zac’ day to take place on September 28.
The four-year-old's mum, Hannah Oliver-Willets, said they were thrilled at the footballer's support, and that the news had given them hope they could reach their target.
Anyone who wants to support the fundraising campaign should visit justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zac-oliver
Anyone donating is asked to make sure they post a picture of themselves wearing red on September 28 on Facebook or Twitter with the hastag #wearredforzac
People can also join Zac's Facebook support page which is called 'Zachariah's's fight against Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia'.
People can also donate using their mobile phone by texting ZACH75 £1 to 70070.
She said: "We are ecstatic. I am just absolutely speechless. I don't think words can express just how grateful I am for his support and hopeful that this could be a launch pad to raise such awareness that we could just be even closer to getting to America for Zac to have his treatment."
Hannah said the former Tottenham Hotspur striker was a "special person".
She said: "I think it is interesting how he has just got a genuine compassionate side to him even though he is a huge football star who is surrounded by media and wealth but at the same time he is really obviously just compassionate and empathetic for other people's situations.
"He has not lost that and it must be innate to have those feelings which I think means he is a very special person."
Defoe befriended Sunderland fan Bradley Lowery during his time at the club.
The youngster was suffering from the rare childhood cancer neuroblastoma and died in July 2017.
Defoe, who was joined leading out England by Bradley as a mascot, described him as "his best friend".
