Football match in memory of Jordan Crombie to raise awareness of rare disease

Jordan Crombie died in 2022 from the rare Addison’s Disease at the age of just 28 years old. His mum, Sharon Copland founded the Jordan’s Addison’s Disease Awareness (JADA) charity to bring awareness for a little known disorder.

Two teams of Jordan’s friends will come together at Starks Park on Sunday, July30 to play in a fundraiser – but for Sharon, making people more aware of the disease is just as significant.

Sharon explained: “Four years ago, there wasn’t a lot of information out there about Addison’s disease. You couldn’t learn much about it – basically we understood that if you take your medication every day, you’ll be okay. It’s all about getting your adrenaline right. Everything in your body needs it – that's everything from breathing, heart beating, you know, everything. Your body needs energy to do that and his body didn't make the adrenaline to be able to do that”.

Jordan was diagnosed at 25 after a bout of fatigue and illness caused concern enough for him to be rushed to the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy. Just 18 hours later, he had his diagnosis.

Sharon said that the disease itself caused Jordan to struggle to medicate and suffered issues with his sleep due to having to take steroids, causing him further problems.

She explained: “He was tired all the time. I basically watched a fit young man completely change his personality. He went from being the life and soul to a recluse. I watched him going from being a strapping and fit healthy man to being skinny, to being tired, to having no zest for life”.

Football was Jordan’s passion from a young age, but after his diagnosis he was told he could never play again. Determined to stay involved in the game, Jordan took on a role as a football agent focusing on women’s football with players involved at Celtic and Hibernian.

Sharon said: “His belief was that women's football was going to become big and he didn't believe that they got supported fully within the sport, so he went and did a course and went on to become a football agent for the last three years of his life.”

Following three years of fighting the disease, Jordan unexpectedly passed away in July of 2022. Sharon said the toll of fighting other illnesses contributed to his passing.

Sharon explained: “Unfortunately, when you have an infection or you're ill, when you have Addison's disease, you have to double up on your medication because it takes more energy to fight whatever else is going on in your body as well as to continue functioning as normal. We found out later that Jordan did have an infection that we don't think he knew about. So he didn't double up on his medication.

“He did have an earache but they just told him it was wax in his ear a week beforehand. We do wonder if it was an infection and because of the wax that couldn't see it. Because he didn't double up, he basically just ran out of energy so his heart stopped beating”.

Jordan’s love of football also inspired his family and friends to come together to launch JADA in November last year. They raised more than £9000 with a game at Warout Stadium in Glenrothes, far surpassing their expectations.

Sharon explained: “He passed away on July 29, and after the funeral, we said wouldn’t it be amazing if all his friends could come together and actually why don’t we launch our charity with a football game. It was played last year on his birthday. We were hoping for just £2000-£3000 just enough to get the website and the charity started, but we ended up with about £9500 getting raised on the day which was just incredible”.

The hope is that this year’s event can help to once again raise vital funds, but Sharon reiterates that awareness is key as they look to launch their website.

The Jordan Crombie Memorial Cup takes place at Starks Park on Sunday, July 30 with a kick-off at 12.45pm. You can find out more at: https://www.facebook.com/JADAcharity17/