I am sure that many of you have followed our friend and occasional writer, Magic Mike Feinberg’s exploits over the years. Most recently Mike walked 50 miles from London stadium to London stadium to raise funds for the charity he founded, Gooners V Cancer. Of course, I donated personally but in discussion with Mike, I have come up with a way to add to the £12k plus he raised from his incredible weekend’s work.
My plan is to sell one of my Magic Hat trilogy books, illustrated by Poorly Drawn Arsenal, and a discount price with a generation proportion of the proceeds going direct to Gooners V Cancer. More of that at the end but first I would like you to read about Magic Mike’s personal journey to this point, culminating in the amazing effort …
Get ready for a long read, buckle up – here comes a bit of a stream of consciousness in the wake of one of the longest, but most rewarding 24 hours of my life!
4 years ago, in 2022, I weighed 365 pounds (that’s 26 stone, 166 kilo, 5840 ounces, etc.), I had zero discipline, I didn’t always make the best decisions about what I ate or drank, I wasn’t the partner and husband that I used to recognize myself as being, and was living a very selfish life of living in the moment and not thinking about the future and how my family needed me to be there for them for decades to come. I was headed in the same direction with the same unfortunate fate as my father and grandfather before him – dead decades before their time.
Somehow, someway, I made some decisions that would begin to make things right. I decided to have gastric sleeve surgery to jump-start a healthier lifestyle. I eventually cut down 90% of my alcohol intake and understood better how my enjoyment of each 6 hours of a buzz was costing me 3 days of depression, productivity, and feeling like a human being. My wife and I went through some difficult periods, which, thankfully, landed us in a position where we both decided our lives together were worth fighting for and working for and 30 years into our partnership are more in love than ever. I lost nearly 150 pounds, stopped hating looking into a mirror, and started living a more balanced lifestyle, a better work-life balance, while keeping my most rewarding “passion projects” (like my family, my charity work, and my involvement in the amazing community I’ll mention shortly) going.
At one point in the early stages of this “re-start,” I was introduced to a very special person who had some commonalities – a desire to help others through his experience (as a cancer survivor), his energy, his passions, and a charity he founded on both sides of the pond called “We Can Kick It.” This was Adrian Conoboy and his lovely wife Roz. While we would not truly ramp up our alignment and work together for a couple of years, this introduction ultimately led me to yesterday, February 4, 2026, World Cancer Day. More on that to come.
Some people “use” sports as an escape, whether from stress, work, reality, or even family. I learned very late in his life that my father was not a sports fan of any kind in large part as a side effect of his father being so into the Brooklyn Dodgers that he would escape from his family almost nightly listening to games on the radio to the exclusion of his family. I don’t mean to vilify my grandfather, who I never had the opportunity to meet, but it is a cautionary example of how a passion can become divisive if you let it.
I fell into a world through a series of coincidences and random events – in 1988 moving from Virginia to London (kicking and screaming, if you can believe that) for 2 years, and using that time to assimilate and live the culture as best I could. That brought me on a Saturday in late 1988 to a place called Highbury’s North Bank terraces for an experience that changed my life forever. Even through my affiliation as an Arsenal supporter took a “break” from 1990-2006 as I returned to the states, went through college, met my wife, got married, built a home, and began to raise a family – it never fully disappeared, and once my kids were old enough to take an interest in football/soccer and the games were fully available on TV in the states, Arsenal came back into our lives with a vengeance! Over the years, we watched together from afar, we bought entire wardrobes, and ultimately, we made a pilgrimage to London in 2013 to experience Arsenal in person as a family. It was life-changing – Steph told me, “You look so happy, you should come here more often.” She might consider it probably the most regrettable comment she ever made, but I took her at her word!
In the years following, we travelled together as a family to follow Arsenal, to NYC, to London, and beyond. And we discovered that we (as an American family following an English team) were far from alone – which is how we became involved in Arsenal America, in establishing connections in the US, UK and beyond – and ultimately the opportunity (thanks to a new friend Andy who I met in the summer of 2016 following Arsenal in California) to establish an online platform, as boutique and limited as it was, to connect with hundreds and thousands of other Arsenal fans around the world, people of all backgrounds, races, religions, experiences, and well outside the “cocoon” people tend to live in sometimes.
It’s at this point that a passion could become divisive instead of inclusive. One can decide that sports are about winning and winning only, that conflict and outsized opinions and rants are the norm, and that’s all there is. Or one could embrace everything about the commonalities that one simple thing (the love of a football club) bring to millions of people who otherwise may not have much in common. This means enjoying the company of others. Meeting people from places and areas of life that otherwise would never have taken place. Enjoying victories and accomplishments – and even more importantly managing failures and angst with millions of “friends” rather than suffering through failures and angst alone.
Sharing personal experiences (like major life events of our children, annual gatherings, impromptu travel to places we’d never been but had instant friends) with strangers who have become incredibly close friends has, I hope my family would agree, brought us closer together rather than served as an escape from each other or dividing us from each other. Ultimately, the appreciation of what this “lifestyle” had brought to me, and to us, led to a desire to share my joy and experiences with others – part of which was the formation of a charity called “Gooners v. Cancer” which allowed me to use whatever small platform (and huge connections) we had obtained to pursue positive outcomes in a way that paid tribute to my father (who died of Leukemia in 2010) and leveraged the unbelievable generosity and community that exists in the Arsenal fanbase – something you can easily miss if you take in only social/traditional media and don’t look for the positives beyond it.
Launched 2017
Gooners v. Cancer began in 2017, raising about $1000 through some mild publicity and a grassroots effort along with some help from some very special people including some who were scoring goals and winning games for us while I watched them from those North Bank terraces at the age of 16. 9 years later, after a variety of campaigns, in-person fundraising in the US and UK surrounding Arsenal visits and matches, art shows highlighting the talented artists in our fanbase, online raffles, 27-hour marathon podcasts, FIFA video game tournaments, and more, with the support of Arsenal Legends, supporters, influential content creators, journalists, and the club itself, we have raised over $190,000 (£140,000) which has been granted to a variety of amazing charities who devote funds and efforts to research to find a cure, and to support individuals and families who are suffering from these horrible diseases and life impacts. Every dollar/pound we raise comes from someone who has sacrificed for others in need, and that never goes unnoticed.
This brings us back to Adrian Conoboy and “We Can Kick It.” When we first met in 2023, there were two like-minded people with similar goals trying to figure out how to leverage our unique experiences and opportunities to try to make 1 + 1 = 5. Often charities are working in the same spaces and can be cannibalizing of each other, making partnerships difficult. But in some cases, the underlying cause, and the different paths we have taken to support it, can do exactly that – make the total greater than the sum of its parts and bring awareness to an exponentially larger audience. While we didn’t have any immediate opportunities to work together in 2023, we kept in touch and I eventually became aware of an amazing fundraising event We Can Kick It was putting on in 2025 – a 40-mile walk to/from all 7 premier league stadiums for World Cancer Day 2025. It seemed like an amazing idea, an incredible effort, but one that I had absolutely no capability to participate in in 2025. I told Adrian then that it would be a pipe dream but that I would love to set a goal to participate in the 2026 version. I worked to raise some funds through GVC for their achievement in 2025 and didn’t have much belief that I would actually be able to participate in 2026, but in October 2025 I decided to bite the bullet, start prioritizing physical activity and training, and set a goal to be there on the day.
With the goal set and the timing fixed, I ramped up my training, purchased gear (shoes, socks, creams, hydration vest, etc.) and suddenly, it was Wednesday, February 4, 2026 and there we were, 12 dedicated people, former schoolmates, friends, strangers, standing at the base of Brentford’s G-tech stadium about to endeavour on a 50-mile, 10-stadium, 17-hour adventure.
Having gained the opportunity to promote the walk on Arsenal.com’s “Live at N5” Carabao Cup semi-final pregame show the night before (and being wired by the exciting win), I got a grand total of 90 minutes sleep before the alarm went off at 3:30am, got geared up, and headed to the starting point, where for the first time I met the rest of the group beyond Adrian, who I’d not yet met.
The ‘Bee’gining
We set off from Brentford and in “quick” succession, arrived at QPR/Loftus Road, Fulham/Craven Cottage (where we were ushered onto the pitch for pictures), and Chelsea/Stamford Bridge where my wife Stephanie first met up with us for pictures, support, and supplies. The weather, unlike the 5 days before the big day, and unlike the forecast for the 5 days after, was crisp, sunny, and without a sign of rain – a truly special “coincidence” that proved so important to our efforts. The next leg – Chelsea to Crystal Palace/Selhurst Park, was longer (9 miles) and I found myself between the front and rear “pelotons” and rather enjoyed the solo walk, listened to music, and eventually arrived at Selhurst Park where we had a bite to eat, changed gear, and were ushered inside for group pictures. From there, we split into 2-3 fluid groups, based on pace and energy, keeping in touch as we moved through the rest of the walk.
Next was a lengthy leg (8 miles) to Millwall (where I was greeted by a good friend and fellow Gooner Darce Styles, then Charlton Athletic – the 7th stadium and the 30-mile mark. The sun was setting and the hardest part of the walk was ahead. We crossed under the Thames via the Greenwich Foot Tunnel (very cool, but when you don’t take the lifts, the massive stair climb 33 miles into a walk doesn’t feel great!) and along the dark Bow Creek Canal until we were greeted outside the West Ham Gift Shop at about 18:30 by our support team (Steph, Maddy from WCKI and a few more). From there, things got beyond challenging and an incredible example of how mind over matter truly works.
Hello Spuds
From West Ham to Tottenham Stadium (an unpleasant destination to have under normal circumstances) under total cover of darkness, largely on the Capitol Ring alongside the River Lea canal, without street lights, dodging joggers and bikes, dogs not on leads/leashes, alongside the Hackney Marshes, through the rather scary Springfield Park at night, I questioned the wisdom of this venture and my body began to “tune out” and go on autopilot. I couldn’t feel my legs or feet anymore, only could force them mentally to just keep going, one in front of the other, for as long as I could. Ultimately, I entered the residential areas of South Tottenham, surrounded by familiar Hebrew lettering and Jewish businesses. I even stopped to take a picture, leaning on a residential house-front gate, which of course wasn’t latched and opened causing me to fall back onto the ground on my back into someone’s front yard – 42 miles into the walk. That wasn’t fun to say the least, but I pulled myself up and kept on going. Eventually, I linked back up with the front group on the Tottenham High Road when they were stopped to get some water at a Tesco, and made it to the stadium, about mile 45, where we begrudgingly took a photo for “proof” and immediately set off on the final leg – 5 miles from Tottenham to “home” – Emirates Stadium.
At this point, we were all exhausted, trying to motivate each other with words of encouragement, support, and putting one foot in front of each other. We reached Finsbury Park at 21:30, the 16-hour (49 mile) mark and as we passed the Twelve Pins and took a picture it hit me that we were almost there. Left on St. Thomas Road, right on Gillespie, and passing the entrance to Highbury Stadium Square (where I reside when in London) was extremely emotional for me and climbing the stairs and crossing the Ken Friar Bridge to reach Emirates Stadium had me choked up.
Halfway around the stadium, down the stairs on the Hornsey Road side, and turning the corner to the Armoury was one of the most emotional moments of my life – there, outside the Armoury gift shop, were 6 wonderful human beings, and one dinosaur (known as Gunnersaurus) waiting for us, cheering for us, and welcoming us with hugs and congratulations. I just fell onto the Pat Jennings bench, hugging my wife, hugging Gunnersaurus, emotionally and physically overcome.
From there, the wonderful Samir from Arsenal FC’s “Arsenal in the Community” department, and my good friend Gunnersaurus, escorted us into the stadium, through the player parking lot entrance, into the home dressing room and then through the entrance tunnel, pitch side for photos, ending in the media room for a very brief “press conference.” My body was starting to go into physical shock, muscles involuntarily spasming, breathing uncontrollably and strangely, feeling incredibly weak and nearly fainting several times. Ultimately, Steph brought me back “home” to Highbury and after a struggle to lay in the bath for 2-3 hours, I made it into bed, shattered, successful, inspired, exhausted, physically hurt but mentally proud. It would not be proper to review this experience without pointing out and thanking SO many people who supported in a variety of ways that did, and continue to, make this such a smashing success.
Impossible without Steph xx
An effort like this can be as valiant as anything but if nobody learns about it, it can’t have the desired impact it deserves. Thank you to my very good friends in the journalism and Arsenal content provider community whose hard work to build a wide audience was utilized unselfishly to help bring attention to this cause. Thank you to Sophie Nicolaou, Tom Canton, Charles Watts, James Benge, Elliot Smith and the rest of the Arsenal Vision podcast, Amy Lawrence and the Handbrake off Podcast, to Robbie Lyle and Lee Judges and the team from AFTV, Dan Potts, and anyone else I may regrettably be overlooking for taking the time and interest to share the fruits of your hard work with me to promote our efforts through your channels.
Thank you to the multiple pubs and local businesses here in the Arsenal/Highbury areas who shared their social media efforts and their wall space to help us promote this event. Thanks to Martin and family at the Tollington, Mick and Cat at the Woodbine, Carlos at Il Guscio, and the Brook Gate, Twelve Pins, and Eaglet for allowing us to post details in your business. PLEASE bring them your business when you are nearby!
Thank you to those who generously donated either their time, signatures, and/or prizes that we have been able to utilize to drive donations through our raffle offerings for this event. Thank you to Ryan Youngblood, Alan Smith and Lee Dixon, Charles Watts, Ruth Beck, Northbanksy, Dave Seager and Jacob aka Poorly Drawn Arsenal, and of course Arsenal Football Club.
Thank you to my Arsenal America family – my fellow board members who have accepted my personal passion project into the larger organization and put their energy and approval into allowing me to get the word out about Gooners v. Cancer and this fundraiser to the larger membership. Thank you to Jamie Locklin who has graciously donated his time to updating and overseeing the GVC website.
Thank you to friends and contacts from outside the Arsenal universe – including some who were part of our walking team yesterday. Fighting the impact of cancer and supporting families is one of the few things that can and should always overcome the tribalism that exists between supporters of rival football clubs.
Thank you to the hundreds and thousands of donors to Gooners v. Cancer over the years, including over 300 thus far in this Stadium Walk campaign that started 1 month ago. So many repeat donors, so many inspirational comments and tributes, please know that even if I haven’t replied directly, I hope to, and I have seen and appreciate your kind and inspiring words and tributes to your loved ones.
Thank you to Arsenal Football Club, who for tens/hundreds of millions of people is “just” a football club but I’ve gotten to know the inner workings and hundreds of individuals who make this football club a truly global organization bringing not just sport, but joy, support, inspiration, smiles, experiences, and community. Thank you to Kate Laurens, Alex Hoffman of the Media team, Samir Singh of the Arsenal in the Community team, the “Green Dinosaur” whom I shall not personally name, and Mark Brindle, Arsenal’s Supporter Liaison Officer, who is an unparalleled ally of both Gooners v. Cancer, Arsenal America, and supporters worldwide and as with the others, a genuinely good and caring human being.
And lastly, but certainly not least, thank you to my true and forever family. My mother and stepfather, who have supported everything I’ve ever done and have been (and are currently) so impacted by the very disease we seek to eradicate. My two incredible children, now amazing young adults, who gave me words of encouragement and support and have become members of this amazing community in their own right. And my wife Stephanie, who has stood by my side for over 30 years, supported me, loved me, and without whom I could not and would not have accomplished yesterday, last week, last year, or anything still to come. I love you Stephanie and appreciate you more than you could know.
We have raised nearly $17,000 (£12,250) in 4 weeks for this incredible campaign – and nearly $30,000 (£22,000) this season to-date for 2025-26. Soon, it will be back to our general fundraising for a variety of cancer support/research charities and more unique events and campaigns to come.
I am physically (but temporarily) broken, but my spirit has been lifted to a level I could not imagine ever reaching, certainly not in the state I found myself in just 4 years ago. There is so much to look forward to, to work for, and so many people who have become a part of my life and so many more to come, in large part due to one seemingly frivolous pursuit – fandom of a “sports organization.” I can’t wait to see what the future brings!
Mike Feinberg
Founder
Gooners v. Cancer
A fabulous guy, and personal friend, with high profile support, raising huge sums to help those fighting cancer. If you would like to add your support and make a donation, and get a brand new hardback signed book at the same time, its easy.
My Arsene Wenger Magic Hat trilogy began in 2018 with Arsene’s Double Double, continued in 2023 with Double Double to Invincibubble and concluded in 2024 with ‘From Wildnerness to Thrillderness. The latter, which catalogues the 9 year trophy drought and culminates in the 2014 FA Cup triumph, like its predecessors, rhymes from start to finish, and is complemented by Poorly Drawn Arsenal’s illustrations.
It launched at £16.99, is now available from Arsenal Direct for only £8.50 but I am offering author signed hardbacks for £7 and £3.50 after P&P will be donated by Gunners Town to Gooners V Cancer. APOLOGIES BUT I CAN ONLY DO THIS IF YOU LIVE IN THE UK!
All you need do to is send £7 to paypal@gunnerstown.com and at the same time email your name, address and any personal inscription desired, to dave@seagermedia.co.uk
Help me and GT add to Mike’s story, and get a cool and unique book for peanuts!
Passionate fifty-something Arsenal supporter who has been making the journey to N5 regularly since the early 1980s – although his first game was in 1976. Always passionate when talking about The Arsenal, Dave decided to send a guest blog to Gunnersphere in the summer of 2011 and has not stopped writing about the Gunners since.
He set up his own site – 1 Nil Down 2 One Up – in February 2012, which he moved on in 2016 to concentrate on freelance writing and building Gunners Town, which he launched with Paul in 2014.
The objective of GT was to be new and fresh and to give a platform for likeminded passionate Arsenal fans wishing to write about their team. Dave still of course, writes for the site himself and advises the ever-changing writing crew.
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