In Your Area 19th November 2020
Mathew Heal’s determination to promote awareness of prostate cancer through sport, following his own diagnosis in February, aged 44, has meant the formation of a brand.
The sports lover, from Guildford, conjured up the phrase Foxtrot Oscar Cancer and his mission to help men over the age of 40 knows no bounds. He wants to get across the message that it can strike at any time and people should be aware of it.
He explained: “I am currently under active surveillance which includes regular checks to monitor me and I soon realised that while explaining my condition to my circle of friends, there was a lack of knowledge and understanding to the biggest cancer killer in men.
So, while out running one day I suddenly thought of the phrase Foxtrot Oscar Cancer which seemed like a polite way of expressing my anger to being hit with the big C word.
The more I slept on the phrase the more it sang out to me, so I decided to try and take it further.
The first idea was to see if I could join up my hobby and passion for hockey into a platform to help raise awareness with men over 40. At this stage I asked Guildford Hockey Club if they would help and support my idea. The director of hockey, Dan Fox [ex-England & GB captain] could not have been more supportive and was influential in helping me approach the club’s board.
Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 and lockdown number two, our English Hockey National Masters Cup match has been put on hold, with the plan for it to go ahead in January next year.
We have secured a full shirt sponsor through Natilik and while the game has been postponed we have continued to try and promote the brand Foxtrot Oscar Cancer and use it as a platform to link sport with prostate cancer awareness.
We have tried to expand it beyond hockey and have seen some great support from local football club Eversley & California. The first team players have joined in some of the lockdown challenges and the club helped me to get the brand going on social media.
Foxtrot Oscar Cancer is an awareness brand where people can use sport to help promote Cancer related topics, for now with the help of Prostate Cancer UK who have been extremely helpful with advice on what information to use. It also plans to run a story board on the Guildford Hockey Club team’s cup progress.
Foxtrot Oscar Cancer is attempting to create a new concept for raising money by encouraging companies to offer discounted prices on products to specific sports club members and then providing a small donation directly to the charity for each item sold,” he added. “In exchange, these companies receive greater brand awareness as well as supporting a great charity. I have been generously supported by several business so far with my venture.”
Silent Pool Gin, Natalik, Hawkinsports, Dragon Feld Hockey, Worplesdon Golf Club and Helen Ritchie Photography have all supported Heal who has developed a logo around ‘Knowledge is Power’ which will be used on the team kit.
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