Belgrade: Cristiano Ronaldo’s castaway armband fetched over $75000 (€64,000) at a Serbian charity auction that helped in the treatment of a six-month-old Gavrilo Djurdjevic, who was suffering from Spinal Muscular Atrophy.
The incident happened during World Cup Qualifiers against Serbia this year when Dutch referee Danny Makkelie denied Ronaldo’s stoppage-time winner as Portugal were held to a 2-2 draw at home. The Portuguese dinked the ball over the Serbia goalkeeper and it appeared that the ball crossed the line before being cleared by the defender Stefan Mitrovic
Reacting to the referee’s decision for not allowing the goal, a furious Ronaldo left the pitch at the end of the match utterly disappointed tossing his captain’s armband. Djordje Vukicevic, a firefighter officer on duty on the pitch picked up the armband from the pitch and put it for an online auction that raised around $75000 for the operation of the kid.
Vukicevic further added that he would collect all the possible memorabilia from other players and help Djurdjevic’s parents get more than two million euros for the little toddler to get back home.
On recieving the unexpected help from the people, Djurdjevic’s mother, Nevena was overwhelmed and said that the proceeds from the sale would contribute a lot to their crisis.
“We could not believe that some people who do not even know us… would take the armband, auction it and help our child,” she said.
Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is a disease that affects about one in 10,000 births and results in death or the need for permanent ventilation by the age of two in 90 per cent of cases. Djurdjevic only hopes is one-time gene treatment Zolgensma, also known as the ‘world’s most expensive drug’, which would cost more than two million euros ($2.35 million).
