A top striker from the Dutch first division will miss his team’s next match after agreeing to donate blood to a leukaemia patient with a DNA match.
Seven years ago, while playing for Werder Bremen in Germany’s Bundesliga, German forward Lennart Thy donated his DNA as a way of potentially helping a leukaemia patient in the future.
Now playing for VVV-Venlo in the Eredivisie, Dutch football’s top tier, the 26-year-old will make a blood donation to a patient who was found to have a DNA match.
“Now that it has been shown that there is a DNA match with a leukemia patient, the footballer has decided to cooperate in donating blood in order to make a stem cell transplant possible,” a statement from the club read.
“This form of treatment is healing for patients with acute leukemia. VVV-Venlo has of course agreed with Thy’s request to cooperate in this special process.
“The chance of a DNA match is extremely small and creates an exceptional situation.”
VVV-Venlo are due to play top of the table PSV Eindhoven on Saturday. The club confirmed Lennart will be absent all week but will rejoin training again next week.