Every 20 minutes, someone in the UK is diagnosed with blood cancer, and during the 90 minutes fans and players were at The City Ground match, five more people will have been told they have blood cancer.

Geoff is championing blood cancer charity Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research’s new national network of clinical trials centres of which Nottingham General Hospital is a key part. This will see local patients with blood cancers including leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma benefit from  new drugs available sooner that will drastically improve their chances of survival.

“I know that so many people I have met wouldn’t have died from blood cancer if more clinical trials were available sooner. Together we can make a massive difference in people’s chances of survival by supporting this project,” Geoff says.

Geoff asked fans to show their support for the charity’s Trails Acceleration Programme (TAP) at Nottingham General Hospital by texting BEAT20 £3 to 70070 to donate £3 to save the lives of local people with blood cancer. Standard network rates apply.

Both Nottingham and Birmingham hospitals are involved in the Trials Acceleration Programme ensuring people with blood cancer in the Midlands receive the most up to date treatment.

Professor Nigel Russell, from Nottingham Centre for Clinical Haematology at NUH, said: "The TAP project links 13 centres across the UK to speed up the progression of research in labs to medicines for patients. When a trial opens, it opens across the UK rather than just at one particular hospital. Here in Nottingham it means that people with blood cancer can access treatments that they may otherwise have not been available to them.

"It also means that the trials will be completed quicker. We will know whether a new treatment is more successful and whether it will be of more benefit to patients than current drugs, generally within around two years. If approved for widespread use then we can do even more to save lives."

Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research receives no government funding, and the success of TAP relies on the support of people across the country to help save lives.