A seven-year-old Liverpool FC fan who is in remission from leukaemia, met her heroes at Anfield at the FA cup final.
Sophie Gamble from Bromley Cross not only watched her team beat Chelsea at the final on Saturday, but she was also lucky to meet some of Liverpool FC’s greatest players - Mo Salah, Jordan Henderson, Alisson Becker and her hero Virgil Van Dijk.
The Reds fan rang the bell at Manchester Children’s Hospital last year in December, after a two year battle with leukaemia.
Sophie’s dad, Robert said: “It was awful really, there’s no words to describe being sat in a room with nurses and consultants being told your daughter has leukaemia.
“It feels like your world has fallen apart."
Sophie was taken to Royal Bolton Hospital after her parents discovered bleeding on her gums, unexplained bruises on her body while looking pale.
Robert said: “It was hard to see the effects of chemotherapy taking her from what she was like before to being unable to walk upstairs and being in pain all the time.
“She was a happy little girl before it started, and nobody wants to see their children going through that."
Robert replied to a tweet from The Owen McVeigh Foundation, where they were offering the incredible opportunity to an existing ticket holder.
This led to Sophie donning her team kit and spending the day high fiving the players including the Chelsea team, waving the FA flag, going onto the pitch and taking pics with the FA cup as well as meeting the FA.
Robert said: “We’re a family of Liverpool fans so she had no choice unfortunately, but she loves them now.
"She says she will never wash her hands after she got a high-five from him.
“Sophie loves playing football and plays for the Astley Bridge girls team too.
She’s really active and her brother plays football, so it got her into it as well.”
When Sophie found out she was going to the game and meeting her heroes, she fell off her chair in excitement according to her dad.
The parents are happy the young footfall fan is now able to do everything other children her age can enjoy.
Robert said: “Now, Sophie is back to her normal self how she should be.
“We want to try and make memories for her to make up for the missed time.
“We’ve been invited to two games when Liverpool played against West Ham in the Premier League and then against Benfica in the Champions League.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here