FOOTBALL STARS CHARITY CHEERS

FOUNDER of charity ‘FASD Awareness NI’ and tireless fundraiser, Alison McNamara has raised close to £2,000 over the past couple of months, and she has many people to thank for such an outstanding amount – not least of all Liverpool football legends Jamie Carragher and Dietmar ‘Didi’ Hamann!

‘FASD’ stands for ‘Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders’, and the Kinallen mother of two founded the community/lobbying group with her husband Brian to raise awareness of the dangers associated with alcohol consumption during pregnancy.

As the adoptive mum of two boys affected by FASD – Jordan (14) and Reece (15) – it is a matter of personal despair to the English-born former nursery nurse that there isn’t more awareness around this issue.

Alison organised a football-themed sponsored walk on July 30, with the participants walking from Windsor Park to The Oval, then to Seaview football stadium and finishing at Solitude.

The walk was led by Andy Loughran, from East Belfast, who has first-hand experience of the damage FASD can cause as his adopted daughter was born with the condition.

The sponsored walk raised an amazing £2,421, with Alison’s son Jordan raising an impressive £200 all of his own!

To add to the football theme, all the walkers proudly wore their NI team jerseys.

Alison then secured an amazing encounter with Liverpool legends, Jamie Carragher and Dietmar Hamman at Belfast’s Crowne Plaza, with the two men wearing T-shirts bearing the ‘FASD Awareness NI’ logo!

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