Wolves favourites Phil Parkes and Steve Daley donate £16,000 to hospital charity
Caring Wolves favourites have donated more than £16,000 to help benefit Black Country urology patients.
Popular 1970s heroes Phil Parkes and Steve Daley visited Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital to present a cheque for £16,680.03 to The Royal Wolverhampton (RWT) NHS Trust.
The duo visited the hospital as part of the Wolves Former Players Association, and the money will be used to benefit men with cancer.
The Maureen Parkes Breast Care Fund has raised more than £75,000 for RWT over the last 28 years to buy various pieces of equipment to enhance the treatment and care of patients.
Phil, 76, lost his wife Maureen in April 2010 after she succumbed to stomach cancer. After beating breast cancer in 1995, she set up the fund to raise money for the trust in thanks for the care she received.
Following her death, Phil carried on raising money for the fund in his wife's name through the Wolves FPA, through its popular golf days and other events.
Both men have been touched by cancer in the past.
Phil, who was a goalkeeper for Wolves between 1966 and 1978, said: "I’m very proud of the work Maureen did and what we have done since her death to raise the money, and of the benefit it has given to patients in Wolverhampton and the local area.
"We feel it’s the right time to wind the fund down, but there is still so much to do to help patients. As the money raised by Maureen’s fund has mainly benefitted women, we thought it right that the remainder of the fund will go towards helping men."
Steve, who was once one of Britain's costliest footballers, returned to the Urology Outpatients, where he previously received his biopsy.
Steve said: "I owe my life to the staff at New Cross Hospital and I want to help people who have what I had.
"What impressed me at the prostate cancer evening was that we had men in their 20s and 30s, not just older ages, so people are starting to realise that this is something that can affect anyone at any time."
Andeana Andreas, urology outpatients departmental manager at the RWT, said: "We’re delighted to receive this money from Phil and Steve and are hugely thankful for the efforts of them, Maureen and Wolves FPA over the years.
"The department will use this money to benefit urology patients with suspected and proven urological cancers such as bladder and prostate cancer, specifically improving their care in the outpatient setting."
"The urology department is currently looking at ways to improve the outpatient management of some recurrent bladder cancers to help reduce waiting lists for standard operations and to improve the treatment of patients who are not fit for standard general anaesthetics. This could help drive forward these changes."
