The Ricky Casey Trust is a local charity that is based in Oldham and was set up in 2020 in memory and honour of my loving husband Ricky Casey 

Ricky was a local hero as he was a firefighter at the Oldham Community Fire Station,  Lees Road, and a much loved and friend of our community. 

We went through the most heartbreaking and devastating  time with this aggressive cancer, devastatingly hard diagnosis and treatment. After I lost Ricky to RMC (Renal Medullary Carcinoma), I found myself wanting to turn my grief into something positive in trying  to help others.

Renal Medullary Carcinoma is a rare aggressive form of kidney cancer that predominantly affects people from the African descent and other ethnic minorities and it has a strong link to those that carry the sickle cell trait, disease and any other blood disorders that causes the blood to sickle. 

When Ricky was diagnosed there was very little help or knowledge available to us in the UK, so as you can imagine this was a frightening time for us. We were told there was no specific treatments available or trials in the UK and a life expectancy of 4-9 months . 

But I was determined to try and do more for Ricky as any wife would. 

We tried to get a drug approved from NHS ENGLAND that would hopefully prolong Ricky's life but this was refused to us as it was expensive and there was not enough evidence that the drug would work. Because of the love for Ricky his friends and the community pulled together to try and raise enough funds to help provide treatment but unfortunately it was too late for Ricky. He began to deteriorate even more and developed a rare form of pneumonia which meant he was taken into hospital and that's where he spent the last 6 weeks of his life.  

Ricky passed away on the 1st May 2019.

This journey for us was tough throughout and a constant fight but I was determined to try and use what I had learned and to use my knowledge to try help at least one other person faced with this terrible disease and continue to do so in Ricky's legacy. 

And now I'm really proud to say here we are, together, with a great team of trustees, patrons, and you the public believing in my mission, the charity is doing just this! 

I know we can make some great strides in tackling the terrible disease that is RMC, and we are learning more and more each day. 

My message to everyone is to please be aware of signs and symptoms of RMC, and know if you have any trait of a blood disorder that may cause your blood to sickle.

Stronger together,
Love
Nicola Casey 

There will be collections around the ground on the matchday so please donate if you can!

You can find the charity on social media searching @therickycassytrust