Gamers back teacher's charity appeal after identity mix-up

A case of mistaken identity has helped a woman raise thousands of pounds for a bereavement charity.

League of Legends gamers confused Emily Perkins, from Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire, with one of the world's best eSports players with a similar Twitter name.

Mrs Perkins, a secondary school physics teacher, had been hoping to raise about £350 during her home cycling challenge.

With the support of her new gaming friends, she has smashed that target.

Mrs Perkins, 39, was using her @Perkz Twitter account to promote her "Tour De Living Room" fundraiser, which involves cycling the length of the Tour de France indoors.

Her handle was confused with that of Luka Perković - whose handle is @C9Perkz - a professional League of Legends player for a team called Cloud9.

She told BBC Radio Leicester: "Someone tweeted about him but put me in and I kept getting loads and loads of messages and it was getting quite annoying."

Mrs Perkins thought she would clear up the confusion by posting photos of her guinea pig Fudge, unaware there was another member of the Cloud9 team that also shared this name.

"After that there were just thousands of people commenting on it," she said.

In an unexpected twist, the gaming community then came together to help Mrs Perkins.

She said: "When these guys were playing, one of the presenters donated $500 to me and then since then I've had over £3,000."

The money raised is for The Laura Centre in Leicester, which supports families who have lost children or children who have lost family members.

Mrs Perkins said: "In 2015, one of my students tragically lost his life in a car accident and I think about his family often."

She said Kian Gill's family received support from The Laura Centre and that would help keep her motivated.

Mrs Perkins said she was "really grateful" to the gamers in the League of Legends community who donated.

Since the social media mix-up, Mrs Perkins has gained more than 6,000 new Twitter followers and been sent merchandise so she can show support for her "amazing new family" at Cloud9.

She has also downloaded League of Legends and been offered coaching to learn how to play.

In the meantime, she is continuing her cycling challenge by riding 9km (5.6 miles) a day until December.

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