Four friends are attempting to beat the world record for the longest padel match on 21 November to raise money for the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust (CHECT).
Nathan Young, Benny Evinson, Marcus Mollinga and David Davies will start their attempt at 2am-3am, aiming to play for 40 straight hours and beat the current Guinness World Records time of 31 hours and 38 minutes.
The event will take place at Zooki Warehouse in Blackpool, with the friends hosting a fundraiser on Saturday 22 November after they finish playing. The rules require the same four players to play throughout, in the same pairings, with an official match score provided at the end of the attempt.
Nathan, who i spearheading the event, wanted to put on an event to raise funds for CHECT and show his support. Benny, his lifelong best friend (‘Uncle Benny’ to his kids), is a Chartered Financial Planner.
Marcus is the co-founder of Zooki, where the event is being held, and met Nathan through padel. David founded Sovereign Beverage Company and has been a family friend of Nathan’s for years. Nathan’s three friends were eager to help his cause, and padel was the perfect vehicle.
The fundraiser is a cause close to one player’s heart — Nathan was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma as a child.
Nathan said: “This is a personal one for me, and my story goes back to my childhood. When looking at some family photos, a member of my family noticed a glow in one of my eyes. It wasn’t known at the time, but this is a common sign of Retinoblastoma.”
Retinoblastoma (RB) is a type of eye cancer that primarily affects young children, particularly those under six years old. It develops in the cells of the retina, the light-sensitive part of the eye, and can affect either one or both eyes. Across the UK, around 40-50 cases are diagnosed every year — approximately one child a week.
Nathan was referred to countless specialists over many months, and was diagnosed with bilateral Rb, which meant both his eyes were affected. He and his mum had to move to London, near St Bart’s, so he could receive treatment, before he could eventually move back to Lytham St Annes.
Unfortunately, to preserve vision in his right eye, Nathan had to undergo surgery to remove his left eye entirely, which was replaced with a prosthetic. This left him blind in his left eye and visually impaired in his right. However, Nathan always remained positive.
He said: “I do consider myself lucky, and try to always think it could have been much worse and it wouldn’t have been out of the question that I lost all vision in my right eye also!
“Of course, as I’ve grown up the nature of my sight does present me with challenges and obstacles. Though I never quite made it as a professional footballer or a top 10 padel player, I like to think I’m a good example of somebody that will get stuck in and have a go at everything without worrying too much about how it’ll pan out!”
In December 2019, Nathan had his first child, Izzy, and after advice from doctors to check her out, discovered that she also had Rb in January 2020, and would need to undergo chemotherapy.
Izzy should hopefully retain healthy vision in one eye because of the swift diagnosis and treatment. Nathan added: “It’s safe to say, this really doesn’t stop her, and despite a challenging start to life it’s been unbelievably fulfilling to watch her take life in her stride and just go for it. She’s a tough kid!”
Nathan emphasised the importance of the support that CHECT provided his family throughout Izzy’s treatment, especially during the chaos of a global pandemic.
He said: “It’s really difficult to explain just how valuable the support from CHECT has been, and how different the whole experience could have been without it.
“Whilst it is difficult to qualify just how grateful I am, what I do know is it is my time to give back and ensure that families who have their RB journeys to come are able to receive the same support that we were fortunate enough to have had, as well as help advance research and development around diagnosis and treatments.”
