Birmingham City players visit sick youngsters at Birmingham Children's Hospital
BIRMINGHAM City stars swapped scoring goals for giving gifts when they paid a festive visit to Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
First-team players including Lee Bowyer, Cameron Jerome and Roger Johnson put a smile on poorly kids’ faces when they arrived armed with presents to distribute among the hospital’s 200 patients.
Paid for with cash raised by the players and matched by the club, the festive haul included laptops, games consoles, LCD televisions and iPod shuffles. The players signed autographs and posed for pictures on the hospital’s oncology, haematology and renal wards as part of Blues Give a Christmas Wish 2009.
Striker Cameron Jerome said: “It’s nice in the run up to Christmas to put a smile on the kids’ faces.
“It means a lot to them and it means a lot to us boys to come and see the good work that is being done here.”
Among those who had their picture taken with the players was 12-year-old Mitchell Fox, from Kingswinford, who is being treated for a brain tumour.
Mitchell’s dad Neil said: “Things like this gives the kids a lift, and at the end of the day that’s what Christmas is all about, the kids.”
Karen Deeks, from Erdington, whose five-year-old daughter Millie undergoes kidney dialysis four times at week at the Children’s Hospital, said: “It’s been great. Millie loves having her photo taken so she’s loved the opportunity to shine.”
And 13-year-old patient Rosie Boshel, from Handsworth Wood, became the envy of her classmates at Kings Norton Girls’ School when players dropped by for a chat.
Rosie’s mum Linda Hutchings said: “This is a big morale boost. The staff work hard for the children and young people here, I think the care they give is world-class and it will be even better when the teenage cancer ward opens.”
Martin Salter, director of communications at the hospital, said: “The kids were delighted, and the parents and the staff enjoyed it as much as the children.”
Blues also brought festive cheer by the sackload when another group of p layers and staff handed out gifts at Heartlands Hospital.
And manager Alex McLeish paid a visit to Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice, in Selly Park, where he handed over a £500 cheque and helped to promote the Shine A Star campaign, which helps people remember loved ones.
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