Aberdeen defender Angus MacDonald hopes his move to Scotland and bid to bolster the Dons defence will also raise awareness around bowel cancer – saving lives.
Centre-half MacDonald joined the Reds on a short-term deal from Swindon Town on deadline day.
The 30-year-old, who has previously turned out in the English Championship for Barnsley, Hull City and Rotherham United, made his Aberdeen debut in last Wednesday’s 3-1 home Premiership defeat to St Mirren.
He then helped the Reds, under interim boss Barry Robson, end a five-game losing streak when they defeated Motherwell by the same scoreline at Pittodrie in the league on Saturday.
MacDonald’s early performances on the park for Aberdeen, as they’ve made the early steps towards improved defensive solidity under stand-in gaffer Robson, have quickly endeared the Englishman to fans.
However, the centre-back’s admirable work off the field, sparked by a serious health scare four years ago, may be something some supporters are unaware of.
MacDonald was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2019 when he was 26 and playing for Hull.
And having battled to defeat the disease, he is now determined to make sure other people spot the symptoms early and can do the same, through his own registered charity, The Angus MacDonald Foundation.
MacDonald said: “Three or four years ago, I got diagnosed with bowel cancer.
“I remember sitting in the hospital thinking I am lucky because they caught it early – there are people who are not so lucky and don’t get diagnosed so early.
“I set up the foundation to get more people checked and to raise awareness about it.
“We want people to get tested.
“(But) even for people who are going through operations and treatments, we are there, offering them somebody to speak to.”
Back in August 2019, MacDonald was hit with the huge shock of his bowel cancer diagnosis after he had been struggling with the symptoms of inflammatory bowel condition colitis while trying to regain his fitness at Hull following a period out injured.
He needed an immediate seven-and-a-half-hour operation to remove his entire large bowel and have a colostomy bag fitted, before a second surgery to implement a new bowel in October 2019.
The defender was given the all-clear from the illness just four months after his diagnosis in December 2019.
MacDonald returned to Hull’s first team after the initial Covid-19 lockdown – playing in a home 1-0 Championship loss to Charlton on June 20, 2020, with 631 days between the Charlton game and his last Tigers appearance.
He also set up The Angus MacDonald Foundation – “to raise awareness and highlight the importance of early diagnosis, especially to younger people under the age of 30 with bowel cancer and other cancers” – around the same time.
MacDonald would move on to Rotherham later in 2020, and then English League Two Swindon last summer – with the Robins allowing him to join Aberdeen in the January window when they released him from a two-year deal after just six months.
Now at the Dons, he hopes a “manic” period in his playing career is at an end, and he ramp up his work – both on the field with the Reds, and off the field, growing his foundation and raising cancer awareness.
He said: “All decisions are run through me.
“We set it up in lockdown.
“At the end of lockdown it was kind of hard to get fundraisers and events going. It was difficult to build the charity as such.
“Then, with football so manic over the past 12 to 18 months, it has been manic again.
“We are still working on other things and speaking to other charities.
“We are still developing the charity into something we can really build up.”
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