1 week Ago By [email protected] (Suzanne Moon)
Three decades of footballers will be reunited on the pitch on Sunday - all because of their groundsman. Kevin Boor has spent 43 years at Blackstones Football Club, having played, been chairman for 12 years, and most recently groundsman at Lincoln Road in Stamford . But having undergone a life-saving liver transplant, Kevin is retiring from club duties with a celebration that will appeal to former players and hundreds of fans alike.
He has organised a reunion match to be played this Sunday afternoon at Blackstones, with former players invited to form the two teams. “Some will be on the pitch for a few minutes, some longer, depending on their age and who’s had to have a new hip,” said Kevin with a smile. “We have Steve Collins and Micky Gynn, who went on to play for Peterborough United, and Adam Frost who is now on Gardeners’ World - he also used to play at Blackstones.
“The former Premier League linesman Dave Bryan is going to be referee and ex-manager Tony Lowther is even coming over from Lanzarote, so it’s going to be quite an event.” Admission will be free for spectators but Kevin, who lives in Ryhall with his football-loving wife, Pam, hopes those coming along will donate generously to Alta, the Addenbrooke’s Liver Transplant Association, which provides advice and support to patients and their families. It is an important cause for Kevin, who was told he needed a liver transplant after suffering several bouts of sepsis, each of which resulted in hospitalisation.
Doctors believe his liver failure was likely caused by an antibiotic treatment - he was not a drinker nor overweight, and led a healthy and active lifestyle. “The sepsis was frightening,” said Pam, who retired from Homebase in Stamford a few months before its announced closure. “Kevin would be shaking and cold but also burning up.
It kept recurring and we knew something wasn’t right.” Tests revealed Kevin’s bile ducts had narrowed causing them to block and become infected, and that his liver was failing. He was put on a transplant waiting list in May 2023 and told it could be a year to 18 months before his operation.
But just one month later he was cutting the grass at Blackstone’s when he received a phone call telling him to come straight to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. After an eight-and-a-half hour operation, Kevin came around from the anaesthetic with a sizable L-shaped incision wound from the surgery. He had received the liver of a 49-year-old woman who was organ donor register when she died.
Kevin finds it difficult to speak about this without becoming emotional. He doesn’t know who his donor is, or how she died, but knows her generosity has saved his life. He has sent a letter, through Addenbrooke’s, to her family.
A father of two daughters, Katie Stevenson, a teacher at St George’s School in Kesteven Road, Stamford, and Rebecca Craggs, who lives in Thurlby and works at Crowland Primary School, Kevin, now 70, wants the opportunity to enjoy more time with his family, which includes four young grandchildren. He is full of praise for the NHS and particularly the team at Addenbrooke’s, whose care he called upon again when he needed some follow-up surgery in September. He hopes not to need any further treatment but will be on immunosuppressants for life, to help prevent his body rejecting the transplanted organ.
As a ‘thank you’ for his treatment, Kevin hopes to raise £1,000 through the reunion match for Alta, a charity which helps people before and after a liver transplant, and raises awareness of the NHS Organ Donor Register, which is online at organdonation.nhs.uk and takes only a couple of minutes to join.
Kevin’s fundraising page can be found at justgiving.com/page/kevin-boor-1 . People can donate through JustGiving before the match, which kicks off at 3pm on Sunday, April 27, or come along to watch the action and make an in-person donation at Blackstones.
Refreshments will be available, as well as autograph opportunities..
