Like thousands of Sunderland fans leading a mass exodus from Wearside this weekend, the Lowery family will step on a train bound for London with Wembley tickets in hand.
Dad Carl, mum Gemma, eldest son Kieran and three-year-old daughter Gracie see Sunderland as not just a football club but “a way of life”.
“It’s not just football,” Gemma tells The i Paper. “It’s a community and it means everything.”
She knows this better than most. As the mum of Bradley Lowery, the six-year-old who captured the imagination of the football world for his brave fight against a rare type of cancer, returning to Wembley is bittersweet.
His absence as they walk on Wembley Way – he passed in 2017, sparking an outpouring of support worldwide – will be keenly felt, as it is every day. But his legacy, and the way Sunderland and their supporters continue to support the foundation set up in his name, is everything that is good about the game.
Sunderland’s Dan Ballard celebrates his dramatic last minute winner against Coventry (Photo: Getty)Bradley would have been 14 last week and it says much about Sunderland supporters that every time the club has an important game – and they don’t come much bigger than Saturday’s Championship play-off final against Sheffield United – the foundation’s inbox overflows with messages of goodwill and support.
Speaking to Gemma this week, one parent of young children to another, it is almost impossible to comprehend what she has been through. But listening to her talk about the Bradley Lowery Foundation and what it has done for children and families who are going through something similar to their “nightmare” is nothing short of inspirational.
“I always feel he’s close to me when Sunderland have these big games,” she says.
“I think about Bradley every single day. His foundation allows me to be able to think about him every day and use his life as a positive rather than think about the negatives that happened.
“But on games that are so important, such as last week and this week coming up to Wembley, he’s right at the forefront of my mind. But it’s not just my mind, I think it’s all of the supporters who think about him.
“The amount of support we’ve had this week has been incredible and it’s just beautiful to know that seven years on, my boy is still making such an impact.
“I know for a simple fact that he would be with us this weekend, celebrating down Wembley Way.”
The foundation has raised a staggering £7m in eight years, from big donations (the club made £120,000 by wearing and selling “For Bradley” red and white shirts) to small fundraising from fans inspired by their son.
Among the countless good causes that have been supported are autism dogs for children, funding treatment, specialist equipment and extensions and a new holiday home in Scarborough for families of terminally ill or sick children to “make memories”.
square FOOTBALL Sport AnalysisThis Sunderland are unlike anything the Premier League has witnessed
Read More
Gemma is acutely aware that Bradley, who was a mascot for England, packed so much into his young life that others in his position aren’t able to.
That is why she is so proud that Sunderland provide an executive box every year which families of ill children can use to create the sort of special times she had with Bradley.
“I know the pain I went through, I know the stress I went through fundraising and trying to look after a sick child,” Gemma says.
“I know the stress I went through trying to work out what the best treatment was for him and how I’d get him there so the whole point of doing the charity is to take that pain away from the parents so they can focus on the child and the stress gets away from them.
“Making memories is huge for me.”
At Wembley this weekend, she won’t be alone in taking time to think of a loved one who can’t be there. That Bradley’s name continues to do so much good, rightly, is a source of immense pride.
“He went to Wembley, he was mascot there and that brings back some beautiful memories,” she says.
“It can be quite overwhelming and it can be very sad – there’s no getting away from that – but the positives outweigh the negatives.”
For more information about the Bradley Lowery Foundation and the work it does, visit bradleyloweryfoundation.com/. To make a donation go here: www.justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/thebradleyloweryfoundation/blf
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Sunderland’s bid for promotion driven by memory of Bradley Lowery )
Also on site :
- Terrorist plot foiled in Russia’s Kaliningrad – FSB
- Old Navy Is Selling a 'Very Comfortable' Mini Dress for Just $17, and Shoppers Say It’s 'Perfect' for Summer
- EU state accuses Ukraine of spying