Football fan with cancer wants to end taboo

A Wolverhampton football fan with stage four cancer has urged people to stop being afraid to talk about the disease, saying there is a "taboo" around even asking someone how they are.

Robbie Meakin, who is having treatment for stage four colon and liver cancer, said too many people were afraid to have the conversation.

"Unfortunately it's such a common disease and I think some people sort of beat around the bush," the 35-year-old told BBC Radio WM.

"I've got no problem at all. From day one I've always said I'd be open and I want to try and encourage other people to open up about it."

Meakin said he wanted to "normalise" talking about cancer and encourage others to open up, whether they have it themselves or support somebody who does.

He explained that strangers had reached out to him since he went public with his diagnosis, and he recently had a conversation with a man whose father had just been diagnosed.

"He was like, 'thank you so much, this conversation has put me at ease because I was so scared'," Meakin said.

The huge football fan has taken a break from his work as a teaching assistant and has thrown himself into a role as club ambassador at AFC Wolverhampton City.

He spoke to the BBC as it approached one year since his diagnosis and as he was organising a charity football match.

It will take place in Castlecroft on Sunday 3 May and raise money for the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust and the local Macmillan Cancer Support hub at New Cross Hospital.

"These two charities [have been] absolutely fantastic with me from day one through to now and they continue to do so," Meakin added.

Waterloo Road actor Cory McClane is among those playing, saying it felt like a "full circle moment" having played Sunday league football for a team connected to the club as a teenager.

Meakin said he hoped to surpass last year's match which attracted 374 spectators and raised £1,400.

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