YOUNG LIVES VS CANCER

Sunderland coach Alessandro Barcherini is running the Manchester Marathon in late April 2025 to raise money and awareness for Young Lives Vs Cancer. His nephew, Luka, was diagnosed with ependymoma, a rare form of brain cancer, just over a year ago when he was just five years old. After 12 months of brain surgeries, radiotherapy and chemotherapy Luka is now living back at home but his battle continues, having to relearn how to walk and talk. We explained a little bit about this in ALS 267 but we also had to chance to speak to Ale directly about his situation. Let's get behind Alessandro and his family to show our support to them during this extremely difficult time.

First things first: For anyone who is not aware, could you explain your role at SAFC? And your recent reshuffle since Mike Dodds' departure...

When Doddsy left the club explored a couple of options and decided that, seeing as I was already doing a lot of work with the whole team on the grass as well as the GKs, the smoothest transition for the players would be for me to move in to an assistant coach role to support Regis, Pedro (Ribeiro) and Proc (Michael Proctor) whilst still overseeing goalkeeping. They've now brought in Tom Weal to take the GKs day-to-day.

Tell us a bit about Luka's story.

Luka is my nephew - my brother's son. They live in Manchester. In mid-March 2024, I’d been to visit as I usually would do every few weeks. That weekend I took him swimming, tennis, boxing and football. Luka did his sports every weekend and was a really healthy happy five-year-old boy! I drove back up to the north east and then a few days later my brother called saying they took Luka to hospital as he was sick and had a really bad headache. They did a scan which revealed a tumour in his brain and he underwent brain surgery on the 15th March 2024. I remember it was the day before we played QPR at home. I drove back to Manchester to spend that night in hospital, and Luka went into a coma that morning after a bleed on the brain after surgery. I drove back to Sunderland to do the game and then back again - everything was a bit of a blur to be honest.

Fast forward to today, after more brain surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the surgeons and specialists allowed Luka to return home after a year of living in hospital. He’s lost a lot of physical and cognitive function which he can hopefully relearn and right now, he is tumour/cancer free. He will continue to have scans over the next 12 months to ensure no tumour growth has returned. He’s an incredible young man and has fought so hard.

What do you know about ependymoma? I'll admit that until researching this piece, I hadn't heard of it.

It’s a rare form of cancer that occurs in the back of the brain near the spinal cord. I also had no idea of what it was either.

How did the family react to Luka's diagnosis?

It was by far the most difficult period we’ve ever been through as a family as none of what was happening was in our control. Roberto (my brother) and Irena (his partner) have been incredible. What they’ve all been through has been so difficult but they’ve coped with it all so well. With the support of both families helping as much as we can, we’ve all really had to keep everything together and be there for each other.

How have you guys been supported by Young Lives Vs Cancer?

Young Lives have been been there from the very beginning. Not just for Luka but also for for Roberto and Irena, offering them so much support and giving them someone impartial to speak to. They offer guidance and help give access to things you might not know are available to you when going through something like this, such as financial and emotional support, as they have seen so many families go through it. They have been ever-present in offering their services and helping all of us through really tough times in the ward.

How many races have you done so far in aid of Luka's cause, and how much money had been raised in the past?

After Luka’s diagnosis I did the great north run and raised nearly £4,000 across two charities - Young Lives and Ronald McDonald House which housed my brother, Irena and their daughter whilst Luka was in Manchester Royal Children’s Hospital. The Manchester Marathon will be my 2nd race to help raise more money for families going through the same thing.

This time, you're preparing to run the Manchester Marathon. Tell us about that...

With Luka being based in Manchester I thought it would be fitting to run the Manchester Marathon. I'm hoping he might be able to be at the finish line on the day, but we’ll have to see how he’s getting on closer to the time.

What target are you aiming for this time?

In all honesty, just raising awareness is enough for me. You just never think something like this will happen to your family so whatever people can spare or even share I’d be so grateful.

Finally, where can people get involved if they want to donate?

You can click HERE. Thank you so much.