I can recollect it clearly - Saturday September 3rd, 2022. My son’s football team, Prestwich Marauders Wolves were playing a warm-up match ahead of the forthcoming U8’s football season. The lads hadn’t played together all summer, and a dozen 7yr olds were producing the organised chaos of which only children’s grass root football is capable. Whilst most of the youthful minds and limbs were trying to find rhythm, one young man stood out.

Midway through the match I watched him collect the ball in his own half, burst past one opponent, chop inside another and then place a rising shot into the roof of the goal past a static goalkeeper. I stood there slack jawed, amazed at how this miniature person had produced football of such quality and maturity. I looked across at his dad, who simply smiled and shrugged.

That young footballer was Mack Southern and he would go on from that early Autumn morning to be the heart of that team. That goal would serve as the prelude to three glorious years of Saturday mornings. Magnificent victories, painful defeats, thunderous goals, and crunching tackles. On the fields of grass roots football, friendships were made and formative childhood memories were created. I can honestly say that those weekend mornings spent standing on touchlines, have been some of the most heart-warming and fulfilling times I have had as a parent.

The reason we share that here is because the creation of more of those memories has been on hiatus since 1st November 2024. On that day, a 9yr old Mack was referred to hospital with an unexplained rash on his chest and he was later diagnosed with a very rare form of leukemia. It is that rareness which had made it so much harder to treat.

Since that day in 2024, half a year of Mack’s life has been spent in hospital. He has been treated on nine different wards. He spent his tenth and eleventh birthday in a hospital bed and he has missed two Christmases whilst receiving treatment. This has been incredibly hard on Mack, his family and all who know him.

The only thing that moves faster than Mack on a football pitch has been the passing of his childhood, and the only thing moving faster than both is the opportunity for him to create childhood memories he’ll want to recollect.

It is a testimony to this boy that despite undergoing sustained medical treatment throughout 2025 he has selflessly raised over £11,500 for the charity “Young Lives vs Cancer.”

To read more about Mack’s story

https://www.justgiving.com/page/mack-southern-1?msockid=1a84f0bc830e616d25cae5438229601e

As he moves into the maintenance stage of his treatment, we have created this JustGiving page so we can help Mack and his family begin to create new memories of a childhood away from the hospital beds and corridors.

On 22nd March 2026, Lee Angus, Adam Worsley and Brendan O’Leary will attempt to survive the Wilmslow Half Marathon. There will be personal bests from two and a great deal of regret from one!

Please donate generously and make our pain worthwhile!

Please understand that we are NOT raising money for a charity.

EVERY single penny we raise goes straight to Mack.

Thank you for reading.

Lee, Adam and Brendan