Crouch and wife back cancer fundraising

Relatives of Sadie-Rose Clifford, who has been diagnosed with the aggressive childhood cancer neuroblastoma, were dealt a major blow last month after discovering the cost of the treatment will be double what they had anticipated.

But the Stoke City striker and his wife have donated £5,000 themselves and pledged to help with fundraising after Sadie-Rose’s mother, Katie Clifford, got in touch with Clancy via the Twitter social networking site.

The model and presenter had an emotional hour-long telephone conversation with Miss Clifford, and is now looking to recruit the support of other high-profile footballers including Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand.

Miss Clifford also revealed that she and her husband, Darren, are hoping to fly out to New York with their daughter at the start of next month to begin the treatment.

However, the Neuroblastoma Alliance charity is still negotiating with the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to try and reduce the amount requested for Sadie-Rose’s treatment. It is hoped that officials at the hospital will agree to accept part payment now, with the rest of the funds being paid at a later date.

It emerged last month that the fundraising target to pay for the treatment has doubled from £250,000 to £500,000, and so far about £80,000 has been collected.

Miss Clifford, 26, from Knaresborough, said: “To have Abbey and Peter on board is amazing, and it has all been a little surreal. But we still need to raise an awful lot more money.”

About 100 children are diagnosed with neuroblastoma each year. Information about the fundraising drive is available at www.sadierosecliffordappeal.co.uk