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| Jack Deaman with Lilac and her family |
Lilac Jackson was born critically ill at 34 weeks and was on life support after contracting sepsis.
She pulled through, but before her first birthday was diagnosed with Spastic Diplegia Cerebral Palsy - a condition which tightens leg muscles.
With the operation not available on the NHS, £80,000 is being raised to fund the procedure and the equipment needed for the rehabilitation.
Lilac was the match mascot at Edgar Street on Saturday with Jack Deaman helping to organise the day. Lilac’s mother was thankful of Deaman’s support, saying they’ve come away with a lifelong friend.
Leila Jackson said: “Jack got involved with ‘Lilac’s Little Legs’ quite early on in our campaign, so going back to the end of 2017. He’s opened so many doors to us, so many opportunities have come our way.
“Our daughters are in the same nursery, which is how we came to cross paths. But more than that, we’ve come away with a lifelong friend. It’s really quite a special situation which has come out all of this.
“He’s opened doors with Hereford and we’ve been quite prolific on twitter off the back of some of his contacts. It’s quite amazing in the build up to this game how the fan base have got behind us, and the impact it’s had on our JustGiving page - in the past 48 hours has been just mind blowing.
“It’s allowed us to touch people we otherwise wouldn’t have touched and our story is just spreading.”
Other than a bucket collection at Edgar Street next Tuesday, the family have received a lot of support from other clubs and events closer to their Gloucestershire home.
Other than a bucket collection at Edgar Street next Tuesday, the family have received a lot of support from other clubs and events closer to their Gloucestershire home.
“We’ve had some good support in Cheltenham, the football club have supported us quite nicely which is exciting. Cheltenham Town Ladies have as well which is particularly special to us.
“We’re going to a charity football match at the end of the March which I’m particularly excited about us I must say! There’s a Steps and Blue concert happening locally which Lilac is going to be the special guest for, she’ll do the meet and greet and we’ll do a bucket collection too.
“The sporting world in particularly has been really kind to us, we’ve had some good opportunities with some dart places as well. An awful lot of the success of this campaign has come through sporting families. It allows us to get our story out there and because of the family feel and that’s how the reach has grown and grown.
“Our fundraising has been just incredible, it’s been hugely successful and totally blown our expectations out the water. We never expected to be where we are today when we started back in October.”