Gary Stevens says “life feels very fragile” as three-year-old son Jack waits for a stem cell donor match after his diagnosis with juvenile myelomonocytic leukaemia, a rare form of blood cancer, in May.
Stevens, a buccaneering right-back in Howard Kendall’s imperious mid-1980s Everton team, is urging people to register as stem cell donors, so there is more chance “for people like our little boy”.
The 57-year-old lives in Australia with wife Louise and the couple's three sons; Jack, Oliver, who is six, and 10-year-old Joshua.
Jack is undergoing chemotherapy at Perth Children’s Hospital.
Stevens has reduced his hours as a physiotherapist, with Louise stopping work altogether, to care for the three boys and ensure Jack always has one parent by his side.
The Stevens family GoFundMe page, created by Louise’s sister, Julie, is raising funds to “keep them going and allow for any needed travel for treatment and living costs”.
“Jack is going through some terrible treatment and has been very ill,” said Stevens.”
“My wife has had to give up work and I have had to reduce my hours as a physio.
“So we have a GoFundMe page to try to help us get by and the response has been amazing.
"All over the world there is a register of willing stem cell donors.
The Stevens family GoFundMe page is at:
www.gofundme.com/f/kuh7v-the-stevens-family“Anyone who gives blood can ask to be put on it.
“What we know at the moment is that the registry hasn’t produced a match for Jack.
“His older brother Oliver has come up as a match and they need to do lots more testing around that.
“But the more people who have their names on that register, the more chance there is for people like our little boy.”
Stevens played 293 games for Everton in six years after making his debut in 1982.
He was twice a league champion, in 1985 and 1987, and added winner’s medals from the 1984 FA Cup and following season’s European Cup Winners’ Cup.
Stevens played 46 times for England and was his country’s first choice right-back at the 1986 World Cup and in the European Championship finals two years later.
He won a succession of trophies with Rangers in Scotland after leaving Everton and moved to Australia in 2011.
“Life feels very fragile at the moment,” said Stevens.
“The information you are given at diagnosis is a sentence that’s just too big to take on board.
“Jack must have had 20 pints of blood transfused over the past eight weeks.
“So please give blood and when you do please ask to be put on the stem cell register.
“It’s just the same as donating blood. There is no operation, nothing at all. But it could give somebody like Jack exactly what he needs.”
The Stevens family GoFundMe page is at:
www.gofundme.com/f/kuh7v-the-stevens-family
