by Andy Lines and Paul Byrne
An England fan who survived 14 rounds of chemotherapy and an 11 hour spine operation has made it here to Gelsenkirchen to support Gareth Southgate’s team.
Alex Zonneveld, 25, got a ticket for the match after well-wishers heard of his gruelling battle with bone cancer and bought him a ticket for tonight’s game with Serbia.
Last year he was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and thought he had no chance of making it.
But he said the thought of getting to Germany was the one thing that kept him going.
Alex, from Borehamwood, Herts, said: “I just made a decision that if I am lucky enough to make it through all this – and alive, then the first thing I’m going to do is get myself out to the Euros, and this dream kept me going through the darkest parts of it all.
“My treatment meant I couldn’t work so I couldn’t earn and I just didn’t have the money for a ticket, so I just appealed online if anyone had a spare ticket and then thanks to the generosity of the British public people managed to chip in and sort me out with a ticket.”
“ I can’t believe I’ve made it and I’m so thankful to everyone who has helped me fulfill this dream. And now it’s all eyes on England winning against Serbia”