Portishead Town’s Liam Noble says the amount of money he has raised for charity was 'beyond his wildest dreams'.
The 17-year-old had targeted raising £200 for men's Mental Health by running 10km per day for seven days, but the support locally has seen the target surpassed and is currently on £3,554.
“To raise this amount of money is beyond my wildest dreams and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my family and friends' help throughout, who were there to push me on every morning before I went out for the runs,” he said.
Boyhood Bristol fan Noble, who has been a season-ticket holder for the last 14 years, has received support from the footballing community, including being on BBC Radio Bristol with Geoff Twentyman, which he described as a “surreal moment”.
And he has spoken to Rovers defender and midfielder Luke Leahy, who donated £30, and £1,000 from Fulham left-back Joe Bryan.
He added: “If someone told me I would have raised over £3,500 through this I would've laughed at them.
“I was half asleep the night Joe Bryan donated and I was woken up by my mates letting me know what just happened so I didn’t actually see if first. As soon as I saw it I ran downstairs to tell my dad and my brother who were ecstatic. I didn’t get much sleep that night.
“I can never thank him enough for what he did. Through him, he managed to get my page across to the Fulham supporters in London which was crazy.
“I have the most amount of respect to him for helping me achieve as much as I have.
“It was amazing how both the (Bristol) City and Rovers fans came together to help raise awareness for such a serious illness.”
The idea first came about after a third lockdown was announced as Noble watched Mental Health being talked about on the news.
This encouraged the teenager to set himself a personal challenge by aiming to make a change to people’s lives and he has admitted to being being blown away by the support he has received, most notably from his own Portishead Town team, who recently had to deal with club captain Nathan Trueman being diagnosed with cancer.
“Portishead Town were brilliant in helping me get my page started and raise awareness over the Portishead area,” he added.
“I still pinch myself sometimes to see if I have actually raised this much or look at the page to see if I have actually raised £3,500 or if I was just dreaming.
“I've been extremely close friends with his younger brother Flynn for many years now so the family mean so much to me and Nathan is one of the nicest and loving people you will meet!
“The club really do everything to help one another, no matter their situation, which makes it such a warming place to be involved in.
“There is always such a great sense of community togetherness but now in particular, we have all come together to support Nath and he knows we will be there for him every step of the way.”
The GoFundMe page at https://gofund.me/e0f1df63 is still open for people to donate and Noble has called on for people to continue and support this great cause.
“I will most likely keep the page up for as long as lockdown continues as I think it’s important for people to check out my story to learn more about men’s mental health and make sure we are all there for each other and not just during these lockdowns but for the future,” he added.
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