German footballer taking week off to help leukemia patient

Posted March 12, 2018 7:00 am

The Associated Press

VENLO, Netherlands (AP) - German forward Lennart Thy will miss a week's training with VVV-Venlo and the Dutch side's next league game in order to help a leukemia patient.

The club says Thy, who is loan from German side Werder Bremen, requested the week off so he can donate blood to enable doctors to generate stem cells that could make a transplant possible for a leukemia patient and possibly save their life.

The 26-year-old Thy found out last week he has a full DNA-match with a particular patient. Seven years ago, he donated DNA to see if he could possibly help a leukemia patient at some stage in the future.

Venlo says, "The chance of a full DNA-match is remarkably small, which is the reason why the situation is so very special."

Thy will miss Venlo's Eredivisie clash with PSV Eindhoven on Saturday.

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