Messi donates shirt to help raise funds for hit-and-run victims

Non-league player Shaun Whiter and his friend Joey Abbs have received help from Lionel Messi.

A small gesture can sometimes be a big thing for someone. For Shaun Whiter, an amateur footballer, it was Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi’s gesture that came as a huge favour. The Barcelona playmaker donated his signed shirt to help raise funds for Whiter, who lost both his legs in a hit-and-run accident.

The 27-year-old Whiter was helping his friend Joey Abbs to change a flat tire on the side of the road in July this year when the accident happened.

Unfortunately, the former Newmarket Town FC, lost both of his legs, thus ending his football career. Abbs, 31, also suffered a serious leg injury in the horrifying accident.

Messi is certainly doing his part to help the two and is the latest football star to donate items along with clubmate Arda Turan. Other notable players to have donated their shirts are England captain Wayne Rooney and his countryman John Terry. Apparently, Liverpool, West Ham, Tottenham, Chelsea and England football team have also donated signed shirts to raise funds.

All the items will be auctioned at a fundraiser on 9 October 2016. The two men will receive the proceedings from the auction to cover their medical bills and physical therapy sessions.Speaking to BBC, Whiter expressed his gratitude towards Messi and Turan. He also posted a few pictures on a social networking site of Messi’s signed jersey. He also harbours dreams of competing in the next edition of the Paralympics.

Whiter told BBC, “I can’t thank Lionel Messi and Arda Turan enough for donating their shirts and getting them to Cambridge.”The player who is getting married next year said at a fundraiser last month, “You’ve got to have a dream. You’ve got to start somewhere.” He posted another picture of himself in a wheelchair and wrote that being able to walk on his wedding day was his primary objective for now.

The accident was ruled as a hit-and-run case and the driver was arrested and sentenced to three years and four months of prison time. He was pressed with two charges of causing injury by dangerous driving.
Five-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi is himself out for at least three weeks after suffering a groin injury in Barcelona’s drawn match against Atletico Madrid. This incident has raised questions about Messi’s recurring groin problem.

RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now