Kelvin Davis was called Super Kelvin by Saints supporters back in the football league years, but since he has stopped playing he is still living up to that title.

Some players just sit back and bask in the glory of their playing days when they retire or at best try and earn more money by becoming "Experts" on TV, but at Southampton we build them with better character than that as has been shown with Francis Benali's heroic charity work over the past couple of years.

Now Kelvin Davis is getting in on the act as he promotes World Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Day and in doing so has got SFC and the Council to turn two famous landmarks in the city into a nice Violet hue at night.

The Ted Bates Statue at St Mary's is lit in this colour as is the Guildhall at the Civic Centre.

Davis is patron and chairman of the Liver & Pancreatic Research & Development Cancer Charity after getting to know its founder, Mo Abu Hilal, who performed emergency surgery on his wife, Kelly, on New Year’s Day 2014.

Kelvin had just played in a 3-0 defeat at home to Chelsea when he heard that Kelly was seriously ill at University Hospital Southampton. after undergoing a successful five-and-a-half hour operation on her appendix.

“We thought it was going to be a routine operation and Mo was going to call me when it was done,”

“But her appendix had been ruptured for four or five days and by the time I got to the hospital she had only just come out of surgery."

“She was basically septicaemic so we were very grateful for Mo’s keyhole surgery skills, which meant the operation wasn’t too invasive.”

Since then he has been a keen supporter of Mo's charity.

“Mo is an amazing person and surgeon, after meeting him I was really intrigued by what he is doing; working 12-hour shifts and then spending his spare time building this charity to do some good.

“I started to get involved by donating a shirt, a ball and pair of gloves and it’s grown from there."

“This is an opportunity for me to do my bit to raise awareness for the work that’s being done to help save lives, by getting more funding and hopefully find a cure.”

Davis, a father of-two and now still at St Mary's working as the Saints’ football development executive, continued

“I’d been looking for a charity to get involved with for some time."

“Everyone wants to do a bit, to do something for others, but it’s finding the best place to use your skills."

“Mo’s doing more than his fair share and hopefully I can help.”

It is great to see that Kelvin although an adopted son of the City like Matt Le Tissier before him has made Southampton his home and now wants to give something back, truly a legend of Southampton Football Club.

Saints supporters can find out more about this excellent local charity and how they can donate or even help by clicking on the link below.

http://www.lapcancercharity.com/about-us.html

Photo: Action Images

kingolaf added 16:20 - Nov 15 What a brilliant bloke. Matty, Franny and Lawrie do a lot of stuff locally on a regular basis as well. Outstanding individuals.
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froggysaint added 16:26 - Nov 15 Well done Kelvin.
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