Ed Sheeran "granted" a six-year-old terminally ill fan his dying wish at his concert in Manchester on Monday (24.04.17).
The 26-year-old singer/songwriter heard about Ollie Carroll’s battle with Batten Disease – an extremely rare and fatal autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disorder most commonly found in children – and invited him backstage at the Manchester Evening News Arena on to give him the ultimate VIP experience and much more.
Ollie’s family say the ‘Shape of You’ hitmaker’s singing has helped the young boy through the gruelling illness and they can’t thank Ed and his team enough.
Ollie’s mother Lucy told the Manchester Evening News newspaper: "The power of Ed’s voice has pulled Ollie through the hardest and darkest of times. As soon as Ed walked into the room and spoke Ollie’s eye lit up and a smile spread across his face.
"This image was priceless. Ed spent time with Ollie and gave him the biggest of cuddles, he had high fives with Amelia who was completely in love and couldn’t stop staring at him. Ed is one of the loveliest guys we have ever met, he asked us to explain Batten Disease and Ollie’s Army. He was truly saddened by our journey.
"To us, last night Ollie wasn’t meeting a star, he was meeting ‘his’ star, he was meeting the man that taught him the power and love of music.
"As parents we cannot thank Ed , his team and every single person who shared Ollie’s video enough. Our dying boy wished to meet his hero, that wish was granted."
When he took to the stage in the English city, the flame-haired pop star even sported a red wristband with Ollie’s Army emblazoned across it; the family’s fundraising campaign to raise money for treatment of the disease.
The meeting came about after the family took to social media to appeal to Ed to meet Ollie.
They created a short video of Ollie and his three-year-old sister Ameila, who sadly has Batten’s too, dancing to the star’s song ‘Thinking Out Loud’ in a hope he would respond.
Ed Sheeran surprises terminally ill fan backstage
