site.btaStiliyan Petrov Foundation Donates Half Million Leva Worth of Equipment to Cancer Hospitals

The foundation of one of the most successful Bulgarian football players of all time, Stiliyan Petrov, donated more than half a million leva worth of medical equipment to hospitals in various parts of this country. The money came from a September 6, 2023 Match of Hope in Sofia, which raised BGN 856,512.

The ex-captain of Scotland's Celtic, England's Aston Villa and the Bulgarian national team, who announced his retirement from football in 2013 about a year after being diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, wants to make sure that the funds he raises go not only to major national hospitals but also to other medical establishments in Bulgaria offering treatment to cancer patients.

He said: "We wanted to donate precisely what the respective hospitals needed, so we could be of maximum use to them. We contacted each of them and then bought the kind of equipment they asked for and needed most."

For a total price of BGN 585,000 the Stiliyan Petrov Foundation bought and donated three ultrasound imaging devices fully equipped with the necessary transducers, an electrosurgical knife, two ECG monitors, a laboratory microscope, a freezer for histological tissue samples, a radiation dryer, a coagulometer, 10 infusion pumps, 48 infusion recliner chairs, 70 infusion stands, 48 hospital beds, eight patient trolleys, 10 manipulation tables, five wheelchairs and two surgery cabinets.

The beneficiaries are 10 cancer hospitals and cancer centres in Burgas, Vratsa, Stara Zagora, Varna, Ruse and Pleven, the national haematology and oncology hospitals in Sofia, the children's cancer ward of Sofia's ISUL Hospital and one of the largest cancer centres in Sofia.

Petrov said: "I am happy that thanks to the efforts and the big hearts of everyone who contributed to the charitable cause of our foundation in one way or another, we managed to improve the conditions for the treatment of cancer patients in Bulgaria."

With the remainder of the funding raised through the Match of Hope, Stiliyan and his wife Paulina will support Bulgarians afflicted by cancer. In choosing the beneficiaries, the couple will solicit the opinions of a team of specialists to ensure that the money is distributed as fairly, efficiently and transparently as possible.