Nottingham Forest: Boss Steve Cooper thanks fan with MND for inspiring team
- Published
Forest 'inspired' by fan living with MND
Boss Steve Cooper says a letter from a Nottingham Forest fan living with motor neurone disease (MND) helped inspire the team to Saturday's derby victory against Leicester City.
Sam Perkins, 41, wrote to Cooper to thank him for transforming Forest's fortunes, having taken them from the bottom of the Championship to the Premier League in stunning fashion.
Cooper met Perkins pitch side at the City Ground after Saturday's 2-0 win.
"You helped us," Cooper told Perkins.
"You helped me, put me in a good mindset for the week and I'm really grateful for the time you have given me."
Talking to BBC East Midlands Today, Cooper said reading about how Forest have brought joy to Perkins, who has raised more than £130,000 for MND research and palliative care since being diagnosed in 2019, was "remarkable".
MND is a degenerative condition that affects nerves in the brain and spinal cord.
Cooper received the letter before the Reds faced Wolves in the Carabao Cup in midweek, with Forest winning the tie following a penalty shootout to reach the semi-final of a cup competition for the first time in more than 30 years.
'What Cooper has done is incredible'
When first meeting Perkins - who has maintained his speech, but has lost much of his ability to move, is restricted to a wheelchair and needs a ventilator to help him breathe - Cooper smiled and said: "I speak to you and we get two wins. I'll have to speak to you every week now, you know that.
"The letter was an inspiration," Cooper continued.
"I rang him that night, within an hour of reading the letter I just thought 'I need to ring this guy'."
Perkins, from the Nottinghamshire village of East Leake, took special delight in Forest's victory against the Foxes - a side that a majority of his family support.
It was another football memory to savour, having been at Wembley in May when Cooper's Forest side won promotion back to the Premier League after a 23-year absence.
"What that guy [Cooper] has done in the last 12 months, for me personally, is just incredible," Perkins said.
"For every Forest fan, but for me in my condition, to have the opportunity to see games like that, to have days like Wembley, he is just a hero.
"It was wonderful to meet him in the flesh."
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