Cheryl Cole battled malaria four years ago
Cheryl Cole battled life-threatening malaria four years ago, and in a bid to bring attention to the devastating epidemic that claims thousands of lives across Africa, she is speaking out it for Sport Relief.
Cheryl will be introducing a special film, shot in a hospital in eastern Uganda, to help raise money for life-saving measures during the Sport Relief Night of TV on BBC One tonight, March 21.
Even though malaria is a preventable disease, thousands of children and adults die from it around the world due to a lack of medical supplies and resources like mosquito nets. Cheryl knows first-hand of the pain and suffering malaria brings as she contracted the disease four years ago, one year after she climbed Mount Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief.
Having received the treatment she needed to make a full recovery, Cheryl wants to help Sport Relief raise awareness of the disease to raise money and help save more lives.
Cheryl said: “When I climbed Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief five years ago it was honestly one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. The motivation lay in knowing it could help in eradicating malaria and ultimately saving lives by providing mosquito nets.
“I didn’t for one minute think that only a year later I would get malaria myself and become so ill that at one point I was given 24 hours to live. It was the scariest thing you could ever imagine for me and for my friends and family. The pain I felt and went through, it’s what so many people go through, all because they don’t have a mosquito net which could save their life. I was lucky; I had the best care I could get. Some people are not so lucky. A £5 mosquito net could keep a child safe and really does help.
“In 2009 when I climbed Kilimanjaro a million kids a year were dying of malaria, now five years later it’s 150,000 less per year. That’s 150,000 kids saved so we are beating malaria. But there are still hundreds of thousands who still need our help. Sport Relief money goes to helping provide mosquito nets to help the people that need it most. I’ve decided to speak out about this again now because having experienced it, it’s obviously very close to my heart and I want people to know how easy it is to help. Please watch the TV show tonight and donate what you can.”
The Sport Relief Weekend takes place from Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd March and for the first time ever the public can run, swim or cycle in the brand new Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Games. For more information on how to join in the fun and games, raise cash and changes lives, go to sportrelief.com.
Money raised from Sport Relief will be spent helping some of the poorest and most disadvantaged people in the UK and around the world.
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