he organised the biggest charity match ever seen in the South of England with an all-time Saints XI playing the then current team at The Dell in May 1988, involving players such as Mick Channon, Alan Ball, Kevin Keegan and Martin Chivers playing in front of a capacity crowd of over 20,000. Mills received an emotional standing ovation when he appeared on the pitch. He died on 1 August 1988, having battled against the illness for two years. On October 23rd 2021 his memory was honoured with the Forever Saint award, presented to his family at St Mary’s Stadium where Southampton were playing Burnley. The Steve Mills Stem Cell Laboratory The charity fund he established before he died raised more than £100,000 towards creating a stem cell laboratory, which was opened at Southampton's Royal South Hants Hospital a year later. The charity continued to provide funds for research into leukaemia over the next 18 years, and in September 2006 the laboratory moved to a new location at Southampton General Hospital. The new unit was officially opened on 27 September 2006 by Steve's widow Jo and former Southampton footballer and manager, Alan Ball. The Steve Mills Stem Cell Laboratory processes, stores and issues stem cell products for transplant. The processing of a patient's stem cell products takes around 3 hours to complete. Stem cell donations are processed as soon as they arrive at the laboratory because stem cells have a shelf life of just 24 hours. The laboratory reacts quickly to hospital requests and processes up to 12 stem cell donations a week. The laboratory processes stem cells for Southampton University Hospitals Trust, Bournemouth Hospital, Poole Hospital, Salisbury District Hospital St. Georges Hospital and Dorset County Hospital. In addition to processing, storing and issuing stem cell products, the laboratory undertakes critical research and development of new cancer therapies and treatments. References External links Saints Legends You Have Never Heard Of !: Steve Mills 1953 births 1988 deaths Footballers from Portsmouth English footballers England under-23 international footballers Southampton F.C. players Miami Toros players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Stem cells Weymouth F.C. players Association football fullbacks English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States English expatriate footballers