Young forward visits local hospice following a special agreement made with fan Luke Stones
Striker Kaiyne Woolery paid a special visit to Derian House Children’s Hospice on Wednesday afternoon following on from a special agreement he made with a long-standing supporter.
Season ticket holder Luke Stones tweeted the 21-year-old earlier this summer, promising that he would donate £100 to a charity of his choice if he was to celebrate his first goal of the campaign with the now infamous “dab” celebration.
And after the forward duly obliged after his effort against Blackpool in the EFL Cup earlier this month, Luke proceeded to send the promised funds to local children’s hospice, Derian House, with the pair paying the centre a visit this week to see exactly where the money will go.
Situated in Euxton, Derian House is renowned throughout the region as being at the forefront of children’s palliative and respite care.
Families who have a child with a life shortening condition can choose from a range of care and support services to meet their individual needs while the organisation is currently supporting more than 300 families with a further 200 receiving bereavement support.
Speaking following the visit, where the duo were shown around the centre and met a number of young people in their care, Woolery admitted that the experience had been an extremely humbling one.
“It’s an incredible place, even down to the decoration, vibrant colours, no-one feels down – it seems a happy place to be and you can see why families come back here,” he said.
“I’ll definitely be back. It’s heart-breaking to see what some kids and their families have to go through but you see places like this bring a bit of happiness back, and as a club we should support that.”
Reflecting on his promise to Luke, he added, “He challenged me and I took it up – I’m just happy he paid the money because it all goes to a good cause.
“I got the tweet in pre-season, just before I played against Crewe, and he said ‘if you score and do the dab, I’ll give £100 to the charity of your choice.’ I thought he was lying at first!
“I waited for my first proper game of the season though and scored. When I jumped into the crowd, a few fans were shouting in my ear ‘dab, dab, dab,’ and a lot seemed to know about it - it’s amazing how it snowballed from one person tweeting me.”
Luke himself was also amazed at how one single tweet had resulted in such a memorable experience for all involved and one which will ultimately help those who rely on Derian House in the long run.
“I don’t know what possessed me to tweet him, to be honest,” he smiled. “It’s a big thing in America, or in rap videos so I thought it would be cool to see a Bolton Wanderers player do it.
“I didn’t really expect him to reply, but when he got back to me it took off. It made by day when he did it.
“It brought the fans together and had a positive impact. It’s been a good couple of months and it seemed to enhance the vibe.
“I’ve heard a lot of things about Derian House in the past and it’s a brilliant place. It was even better than I anticipated.”
Georgina Cox, Chief Executive of the organisation added, “It was great to meet Kaiyne and Luke this week and to say thank you in person for helping us out.
“Many of the boys and young men who receive respite care here are big football fans so it was a real treat for them to meet Kaiyne after seeing the exchanges on Twitter when he did the dab!
“They’ve already invited him back for a FIFA match on the PlayStation!”
For more information on Derian House, please visit www.derianhouse.co.uk.