Brave mum starts ice-cold water challenge to raise funds after inspiring Derbyshire football coach diagnosed with cancer

Angie Tolley, 38, from Tibshelf, started a Facebook fundraiser for Prostate Cancer UK, a charity supporting prostate cancer research, after her son’s football coach and a manager at Alfreton Town Junior Panthers under 14's, Trevor Higginbottom, was diagnosed with the disease.

Angie, known as the ‘Barefoot Gardener’ said: "Trev always goes above and beyond for the young men that play for him. He's passionate, caring and inspires these guys to achieve their best and always makes the game fun. His strength in facing this awful disease head on with bravery shows the boys what a true inspirational character he is and always will be. We love him and are a very tight knit football family!!"

She decided to draw attention to her fundraiser in a very unusual way and is undertaking a ‘dip a day’ challenge which includes having a bath or swimming in icy cold water every day. Angie, who posts videos of her baths on Facebook and aims to continue her challenge until the end of December said: “ I suffer from spine injury and so I started cold water swimming and wild swimming in May. Since then I have been building up my resistance to the cold water. It is benefiting my mental and physical health so I decided to kill two birds with one stone and do something impactful for a good cause.”

After Angie started raising funds, Trevor, who at the beginning preferred to keep the sad news to himself, decided to speak publicly about his disease.

Angie said: “I think it is so brave of him to speak about cancer. He is such a strong person. At the beginning he wanted to keep the sad news to himself and when he decided to share with us we were very upset. But Trev has been positive and it helped the boys to remain positive. He has been inspiring them and now they are inspiring him. He has a son on the team and that has had an impact on him too. But boys support them both. We're always there for one another, we always talk and support each other. It's just a case of being a football family.”

To support Trevor even more, boys and their parents visited Trevor after his operation, and brought ‘little treats’ to keep his spirits up. Now Trevor awaits further tests, while Angie continues her fundraiser.

She said: “Let's raise as much money as possible to show our strength and support to one of our very own Alfreton brothers. I know we're all going through very testing times and face financial difficulties through this crisis. But every few pounds helps. Even if you can spare the expense of a morning coffee, it would make such a big difference for Trev because it's going to inspire him to carry on and beat this disease.

“Cancer affects one in three of us. I, myself have sadly lost my mum to it. So it's not just about putting money in there to support a stranger. It's about putting money in there to help one of us, because you never know who will be affected by cancer.”