Joe stars in book for his own charity

Alan Rogers, from Winstanley, decided to use his third novel Final Instinct to help Joseph’s Goal and its aim of funding research into rare condition non-ketotic hyperglycaemia (NKH).

However, just fund-raising for the charity founded by Wigan Post football correspondent Paul Kendrick and his family to help his son Joseph who suffers from the condition was not enough for Alan. Instead he wove the money-spinning into the entire narrative, making the book about a women’s choir who decide to adopt Joseph’s Goal as the focus of their kind-hearted efforts and included a chapter on the condition written with the help of eight-year-old Joseph’s mum Emma.

Alan admits Final Instinct is a considerable departure from his first two books, which mainly focused on his interests in travelling and football, but says he mostly enjoyed the challenge.

Alan, 59, said: “I was thinking of doing something a bit different for the third one. We support Joseph’s Goal a lot and someone suggested this as a subject. I thought it was a good idea, spoke to Emma to work something out and it went from there. I wanted the book to appeal to a broad audience to sell as many copies as possible and raise as much money for NKH research as I can, so I decided not to just write it about things I like.

“I came up with the idea of a ladies’ choir which decides to support Joseph’s Goal and what happens to them.”

Dad Paul said: “We’re constantly taken aback by the many different ways people are finding to support Joseph’s Goal.

“And it’s amazing to think Joe and the condition of NKH has made it into a book, thanks to Alan’s creative spark.

“We’re all looking forward to reading the book now and hopefully it will raise a lot of money and awareness towards finding a cure.”