Yahoo News 'Inspiration' Henri, 10, meets Stoke City heroes after raising £25k
Stoke City fan Henri Brammer was given a special treat when he came face-to-face with his football heroes - after raising a staggering £25,000 for the surgeons who saved his life. The 10-year-old, of Lightwood, had been complaining of a headache before medics found an infection on his brain caused by Strep A.
After three brain operations, where surgeons encountered a 10cm ball of pus, Henri is back playing football - and has raised £25,700 for Alder Hey Children's Hospital as a 'thank you'. Now the brave youngster has received a treat from his beloved Stoke City after being invited to Clayton Wood to meet his heroes.
StokeonTrentLive has previously reported how it was in the build up to the Christmas of 2022 when Henri, who plays for Blurton Reds, began complaining of a headache, eye pain and lethargy. Doctors had said he was suffering a viral infection before mum Carly demanded scans were carried out.
The next day, a CT scan showed young Henri had a 10cm ball of pus on his brain and he was rushed by ambulance to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool. He underwent neurosurgery for five hours to have his brain drained - and ended up undergoing three operations over a three-week period.
In the build-up to the Potters' crunch Championship match with Plymouth Argyle, Henri went down to the training ground where he first bumped into Ben Wilmot and Jack Bonham - and got a handshake from the goalkeeper, who is one of his favourite players.
That meeting was quickly followed by captain Josh Laurent and Tyrese Campbell - who invited him out for a kickabout. The Gladstone Primary Academy pupil was keen to tell the coaching staff he was a goal-scoring striker and while having a go at darts asked his dad: "Maybe Steven Schumacher will promote me to the first team?"
He then bumped into Stoke legend Ryan Shawcross who told the youngster he'd heard about his fund-raising exploits. But while dad knew Ryan, Henri didn't - to the amusement of the ex-captain, who told him he looked 'very smart' and dished out a handshake before telling him the amount raised was just 'unbelievable'.
He then got an arm around the shoulder from Jon Walters, who he told all about his brain operations and subsequent fund-raising efforts which had included pyjama parties and fancy dress days at school. When Potters boss Steven Schumacher found out Henri was a bit of a goal-scorer he quickly asked: "Do you want to play on Saturday? You're in! Good lad!"
After meeting even more players including Niall Ennis and Junior Tchamadeu, who were all quick to shake Henri's hand, the youngster was given out a job dishing out bibs. While handing them out he revealed his ambition to don the red and white stripes. He said: "I want to play for Stoke so bad because I can just imagine my debut. I come off the bench and then my favourite player, Burger, had a beautiful ball and then I just blast it in the back of the net and the fans go wild."
The brave youngster then took centre stage, as head coach Schumacher gathered the players.
He told them: "I want to introduce you to someone really special. This is Henri, and Henri's a Stoke fan. He was diagnosed with Strep A unexpectedly, he wasn't very well and his parents took him into hospital, and he was rushed pretty much straight away to Alder Hey. He got the operation done really quickly and since then he's been raising money and has raised over £25,000 in just over 12 months which he donated to Alder Hey.
"He told me before that his biggest hero is the surgeon that worked on him, Dr Ali. For such a young age, how old are you, 10, to have done that and been through what he's been through is an inspiration so you're welcome any time, alright mate?"
The players then gave him a round of applause before he went on to enjoy a kickabout with Lewis Baker and Bae Junho. He was then set a challenge by stopper Bonham, who told him he had 10 chances to score past him - and the prize was his goalkeeper gloves, boots and the gloves of the other 'keepers.
After some narrow misses he left the former Gillingham man grounded and celebrated the prize. It was then into the bootroom followed by the canteen. Midfield ace Wouter Burger gave him a surprise while he was enjoying a chicken wrap - his match-worn boots.
He told Henri: "You see I wore them, they're a little bit damaged - but you know I really wore them! This one I scored a goal against QPR."
With boots and signed gloves Henri loaded up his bags - with more fund-raising in the pipeline. Mum Carly says the family want to carry on backing the medics who saved the youngster.
She said: "We initially wanted to raise £2,000, but after we achieved that almost immediately, we just wanted to see how far we could go with this. We are all so delighted that Henri has been able to raise so much money for such an incredible hospital, it really is like no other hospital, and we just want other families like ours to be able to receive the same care and support that we have.
“I want to say thank you to every member of staff at Alder Hey, from the surgeons to the cleaners on the wards, the care we received was unbelievable and everyone made such an effort to make sure we were ok.”
She added: "We are still planning to hold regular fundraising events like we have been doing this year, and all the money will be going straight to Alder Hey Children’s Charity. Alder Hey saved our son’s life and this is the least we could do to thank them.”
Strep A, or Group A Streptococcus as it’s also known, is a bacteria most commonly found in the throat and nose that can lead to numerous infections such as scarlet fever, tonsillitis and impetigo.
The bacterium is very common and lots of people will have it unknowingly but in some cases, it can spread to others who may have an increased chance of becoming ill from the infection. However, in most cases health issues caused by Strep A are mild.
Carly is urging other parents to be aware of Strep A. She added: "Parents know when something is wrong so trust your gut, even if you are wrong just push for answers. We didn't know how serious Strep A can be, he's a very lucky boy.
"Trust your gut and don't take no for an answer. Alder Hey have been incredible, if you need something done, it's done there and then."
The full video of Henri's visit can be found on Stoke City's YouTube channel here.
