Wayne Rooney urged to grant final wish of terminally ill Sheffield boy
The family of a terminally ill junior footballer from Sheffield want him to meet Wayne Rooney to give him one last smile
A campaign's been launched to get Wayne Rooney to meet a terminally ill Sheffield boy who loves football.
8-year-old Kasabian Newton Smith, who plays for Southey Wolves under 10s, has been battling cancer since he was two and was diagnosed with two inoperable brain tumours in December.
His friends and family are now trying to get the Manchester United star, who's Kasabian's footballing hero, to meet him to give him one last smile.
Footballers, junior and senior, have been sharing photos of themselves doing Rooney's trademark goal celebration of holding a finger in the air, with the hashtag #1LastSmileForKasabian.
His grassroots football coach has also set up a fundraising page to support Kasabian's family.
The 8-year-old wanted to be a firefighter, and he's also spent a day with the South Yorkshire Fire service in Barnsley. He got to ride in a fire engine, which was on his 'bucket list'.
Kasabian’s dad, Simon Newton-Smith said:
“Kasabian had a fantastic day – white watch were brilliant hosts and made sure it was action packed from start to finish."
Station Manager Damian Henderson said:
- “Kasabian started off very shy at the beginning of the day, but once he’d had his first call out and had a go in the engine, he was giving me my orders! *
"I think I speak on behalf of everybody at South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue when I say what a pleasure it was to have Kasabian on station, and I feel privileged to have been a part of his big day.”
Doctors have told Kasabian's family there's no longer anything that can be done for him - they've been told to bring forward his December birthday celebrations to now.
If you want to support the fundraising for Kasabian's family, you can here.