A seven-year-old boy from Redditch has met his footballing hero in a surprise visit following his cancer treatment.
Manchester United super fan, Anderson Pollard, was invited to the team's Carrington training ground on Friday, January 26 for what he thought was an interview with MUTV about attending an earlier match against Tottenham Hotspur.
The youngster, who was diagnosed with a rare type of Non-Hodgkins lymphoma, Burkitt lymphoma, in May last year, had been gifted tickets to the game by West Midlands Police after he rang the end-of-treatment bell.
But to Anderson's surprise, rather than an interview about the game, the club had in fact arranged for him to visit his favourite player Alejandro Garnacho who had heard about his cancer journey and wanted to meet him.
His dad, Sam Pollard, said: "Man United picked up on the story about West Midlands Police gifting him tickets to a game and someone reached out to me to ask if they could do something special for him.
"We had no idea what they were planning to do, but there was a lot of communication about what we were going to tell Anderson and how we would make it a surprise.
"When Anderson saw Garnacho, it was wonderful. He was in so much shock and awe at meeting his hero and he gave me such a big cuddle."
The seven-year-old, who is now cancer-free, underwent a series of intense treatments after his diagnosis last year where staff at Birmingham Children's Hospital found numerous tumours in his stomach.
The Manchester United star holds a special meaning to Anderson who used 'Garnacho' as the answer to his emergency question 'Who has played with Ronaldo and Messi?'.
The emergency question is used when children are under treatment for aggressive forms of cancer and is asked by parents and doctors to test their cognitive response.
Mr Pollard said: "He is quite literally Anderson's favourite player and he has been there as the answer to his emergency question throughout his treatment.
"It has been such an emotional journey and a difficult time for us as a family, so to see him go from being hooked up to machines to being happy and excited to meet Garnacho means the world to us."
As well as playing football on the indoor training pitches, Anderson, who was accompanied by dad Sam and mum Debbie Bath, was presented with a special bravery award from Garnacho who called the youngster heroic.
Mr Pollard added: "The club have been incredible, they're really classy and it's helped Anderson being able to talk about how brave he's been on his journey. It meant a lot for him to hear his hero call him a warrior. It was remarkable.
"Even seeing himself on the YouTube channel has been amazing. I can't explain how much it has meant to him.
"I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has been involved in Anderson's journey not only Manchester United, but also the NHS staff at West Midlands Ambulance Service, Birmingham Children's Hospital and Worcestershire Royal Hospital. I couldn't imagine doing the work they do day in and day out, they are incredible."
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