Mark "Mavis" Reilly
Visitors to our forum may recall a story we ran back in April regarding former Saints double winner Mark "Mavis" Reilly.
Mark's daughter Dionne (4) was born with Rett Syndrome, which is a severe neurological disorder that unfortunately means she is unable to walk or talk and requires constant care.
Mavis with his beautiful daughter Dionne
Mark's daughter Dionne (4) was born with Rett Syndrome, which is a severe neurological disorder that unfortunately means she is unable to walk or talk and requires constant care.
Mavis with his beautiful daughter Dionne
Mark and fellow buddies Kevin McGowne, Andy Millen and a few others decided to take on the "3 Peaks Challenge" earlier in the year to raise money to fund research into the disorder, which affects around 1 in 10,000 girls.
In lab conditions scientists have already managed to reverse the disease and the hope is that with further research this could become the first curable disorder and also then help research into others such as Cerebral Palsy, Pakinson's and Autism.
Mark targetted raisiing £5,000 but his Just Giving page today (which is still open and accepting donations) bears testament to his popularity as he smashed that target by 200% with over £10,000 now sitting in the bank.
Needless to say three guys who won the double with Saints found the challenge of climbing three mountains in 24 hours a doddle !
Mark was deeply touched by the donations he got from many Saints fans following our story on the forum. The buddies as usual were superbly generous and Mark got in touch to say he wanted to give something back if he could.
In an incredible gesture Mark offered to give away his Challenge Cup Winning Medal from season 2005-2006 to one lucky Saints fan who had donated to his page.
We discussed this at length with him and told him it would be better to auction off the medal to raise money for the charity, but Mark was adamant that he wanted a real Saints fan and someone who had donated to the page already to receive the medal.
An amazing thing to do !
In lab conditions scientists have already managed to reverse the disease and the hope is that with further research this could become the first curable disorder and also then help research into others such as Cerebral Palsy, Pakinson's and Autism.
Mark targetted raisiing £5,000 but his Just Giving page today (which is still open and accepting donations) bears testament to his popularity as he smashed that target by 200% with over £10,000 now sitting in the bank.
Needless to say three guys who won the double with Saints found the challenge of climbing three mountains in 24 hours a doddle !
Mark was deeply touched by the donations he got from many Saints fans following our story on the forum. The buddies as usual were superbly generous and Mark got in touch to say he wanted to give something back if he could.
In an incredible gesture Mark offered to give away his Challenge Cup Winning Medal from season 2005-2006 to one lucky Saints fan who had donated to his page.
We discussed this at length with him and told him it would be better to auction off the medal to raise money for the charity, but Mark was adamant that he wanted a real Saints fan and someone who had donated to the page already to receive the medal.
An amazing thing to do !
So, we met Mark a couple of weeks ago and we put all of the donations into a hat and drew out one lucky buddie. The name that came out was COLIN ORR who we have contacted and who is thrilled !
We now intend to have Mark present the medal to Colin at half time in one of the next few home games (depending on Marks shifts at work).
I'm sure you will be touched by the story, and if you would like to donate to Dionnes page you can still do so by clicking here.
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