Gillingham fans will be holding a minutes applause in the 13th minute of this Saturday's game against Rotherham United at Priestifeld. The applause is to support Olly Monk and his wife, who were left devastated after their identical twins were stillborn.
Dottie and Poppy had contracted the rare condition of twin to twin transfusion syndrome. Dottie passed away just a few weeks after Poppy, on October 13. A funeral was held last Friday and Olly managed to attend Gillingham's 1-0 victory over Accrington Stanley the following day.
The win put a smile back on Olly's face for the first time in a couple of weeks. Following the games Olly tweeted: “The past two weeks have been the hardest in my life. My two angels were born sleeping and yesterday we held a funeral.
“I wasn’t going to go watch the Gills but I’m glad I did. I managed to crack a smile for the first time in weeks.”
Goalscorer Regan Charles-Cook dedicated his goal to Olly, while Gills manager Steve Evans sent his condolences saying: “My family’s thoughts and prayers are with him and his family to stay strong and build a bright future. From my message exchanges, he is a proper Gills family man and the result helped him smile. The power of football is simply amazing.”
Olly is now hoping to raise money for the Twins Trust, to help them fund more research into twin to twin transfusion syndrome. He is planning on running the Great Manchester Run half marathon in May next year.
The Team Poppy and Dottie fundraising page can be viewed on the Just Giving website here.
The GISC send their condolences to Olly, his wife Katie and the entire Monk family. Our thoughts are with you all. We will certainly all be joining in with the minutes' applause after 13 minutes on Saturday.
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