Kenneth’s joy as United stars drop in to Christie’s

RED delight . . . Kenneth Downs with Nemanja Vidic (left) and Dimitar Berbatov

A SHAW cancer patient got a shot in the arm when he met his Manchester United heroes as they celebrated the opening of The Christie’s new patient treatment centre.

Reds fan Kenneth Downs was over the moon after chatting to Old Trafford stars Nemanja Vidic and Dimitar Berbatov at the new £35 million centre at Christie’s Withington base.

The centre includes the largest early-patient trials in the world and the biggest chemotherapy facility in the UK.

Mr Downs was diagnosed with liver cancer in April and is currently having chemotherapy at The Christie.

The 68-year-old said: “I have followed Manchester United from being a child so to meet the players today has given me a real boost — my Christmas has certainly come early and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

The players’ return to The Christie came after they kick-started work on the centre in March last year in a dramatic football stunt.

United skipper Vidic said: “It’s great to see the new centre, especially as we both visited when they started building two years ago. It was good to meet the patients as this centre is all about them. It’s inspiring how positive they all are.”

The centre has 70 beds, 65 treatment chairs, 19 consulting suites, a pharmacy and a research sample processing laboratory. It will treat 600 patients a week.

Bulgarian striker Berbatov added: “The patients were great and they will receive brilliant care in this new centre.

“We all know someone who has had cancer and it’s therefore brilliant that the research here will help save the lives of cancer patients across the world.”