A Hatfield fundraiser and huge Tottenham Hotspur fan has been given a special day out at the club’s stadium thanks to the BBC’s One Show.
Eddie Mills founded the Oli Mills Foundation in memory of his brother, who passed from a brain tumour at the age of just 18, and has gone on to almost £500,000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust.
To recognise his efforts, family friend and charity supporter Mary O’Boy nominated Eddie for a One Big Thank You, which was organised by BBC One’s The One Show.
“About three months ago, I nominated him for a One Big Thank You on the BBC’s One Show, and they decided to give him a special day at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium,” said Mary.
“Eddie has raised just under £500,000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust, and having lost his father when he was just 13, and then Oli, his only sibling, when he was 23, I think what’s he done has been really incredible and he deserved to have that recognition.”
And it was a day worthy of Eddie’s efforts, including meeting Spurs legend Ledley King, with Mary continuing: “He had an absolutely wonderful day.
“He’s a massive Tottenham fan, so him getting to meet Ledley King, have a tour of the stadium and get his own shirt was so special.
“We told him he was going to the stadium to do some work for the Oli Mills Foundation, so he had no idea what was going on.”
Eddie founded the Oli Mills Foundation after the death of his brother in 2005, with Mary paying a fitting tribute to Oli, who was close friends with one of her children.
“Oli was just 18 and doing his A-levels when he died,” she said.
“He was very good friends with one of my children, and they did everything together.
“Oli started getting very severe headaches, so he was taken to the Royal Free Hospital. He went and had surgery, but he was put on a ward with much older people.
“When he woke up, the first thing he asked his mother was ‘why am I on a ward like this?’.
“That hit home with his family, and that was one of the big reasons behind the foundation.
“Oli was just one of these wonderful characters, always up for fun and he was an amazing young man, sadly taken from us far too soon.”
