Lola Berry decided how she was going to face the next six weeks. A different football shirt every single day. She is already wearing them and you can now bid on the ones she has worn.
Lola has just turned eight. She is the daughter of James Berry, First Team Performance Chef at Bolton Wanderers and she is now into her treatment at The Christie in Manchester, five afternoons a week across six weeks.
Thirty days of treatment. Thirty different football shirts.
The idea is hers. When the family asked her how she wanted to do it this time, she said she wanted a surprise every day. So, every shirt is wrapped and waiting for her, and she opens one each day before they set off for Manchester.
Day one was a Wanderers shirt. The last day will be a Wanderers shirt too and there will be one in between every week, because this is her dad’s club and Lola made that part clear.
She has done this before
In March 2023, aged four, Lola was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Surgeons operated the following day. What followed was seven weeks of proton beam therapy at The Christie, 36 separate sessions.
She attended every one of them in a different princess or queen costume.
What began as something to get her through the door turned into something else entirely. The staff on the unit started asking what she was coming in as tomorrow. Other patients began looking forward to it. A four-year-old in a princess dress changed the atmosphere of a proton beam therapy unit and she did it every day for seven weeks without missing one.
Her family went on to raise close to £14,000 for The Christie Charity, through a festival-themed party for Lola’s fifth birthday and a festive afternoon tea at Bolton Town Hall supported by
Wanderers legends Peter Reid and John McGinlay. A medallion bearing Lola’s name marks the family’s place in The Christie Charity’s Fundraising Hall of Fame.
Football has answered
Bolton Wanderers wrote to all 72 EFL clubs asking whether they would send a small signed shirt for Lola to wear. The replies came back within hours and they have kept coming.
Shirts have arrived from across the divisions and from well beyond them. A signed West Ham United shirt. Three from Wolverhampton Wanderers. A Barcelona shirt. A Newcastle United Women shirt, sourced through a Bolton-born player. Shirts from Oldham Athletic and Burnley. Palm City in Dubai sent a video message wishing her luck.
Some of them have come from much closer to home. Josh Dacres-Cogley has sent a signed Stockport County shirt. Aaron Morley has sent one from Wycombe Wanderers. Gethin Jones and
Aaron Collins, now both at MK Dons, have done the same. All four were at Bolton Wanderers the first time Lola was ill. All four remembered.
Mystery BOXD has also supported the appeal with donated shirts.
How to bid
Every shirt Lola wears is raising money for two causes that have cared for her and for children like her: The Christie Charity and Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. Net proceeds are split equally between them.
Bidding is open now: app.galabid.com/lolas30shirtsgoal/items
You do not have to be a Wanderers supporter and you do not have to bid on a Wanderers shirt. There are shirts there from across the English divisions and from well beyond them and every single one was given by someone who wanted to help an eight-year-old get through each day.
Why it matters here
There will be many inside the Toughsheet Community Stadium this season quietly going through some version of what the Berry family is going through. Most of them will never say so. That is part of why Lola’s family have chosen to do this in public.
James said: “Last time Lola wore a princess dress every day. It started off as something for her and then the staff were asking what she was coming in as tomorrow, and the other patients were looking forward to it as well. This time she wanted football shirts and she wanted a surprise every day, so that is what she is getting. One wrapped up, every day, before we set off.
“The clubs have been unbelievable. People who have never met her have gone out of their way for a little girl they do not know. The Christie looked after Lola when she was four and they are looking after her again now, so if her idea raises something for them, that is the least we can do.
“The lads who were here the first time round have not forgotten either. Josh Dacres-Cogley, Aaron Morley, Gethin Jones and Aaron Collins have all sent shirts from their new clubs. They knew what we went through the first time. That is the Wanderers family for you.
“We are proud of our little princess. Thank you to everyone who has helped.”
Behind them, all the way
James has fed this football club for years. He has cooked for the first team through good seasons and hard ones and he has done it while his family carried something most people at the stadium knew nothing about.
Nobody at Bolton Wanderers needed asking twice.
Lola, every one of us is behind you. Thirty shirts, thirty days and the entire Bolton Wanderers family watching you do it. You have already shown more courage than most of us will ever be asked for and you have done it with a smile.
James, Kerry and all the family, you are Wanderers and we look after our own. Whatever you need, for as long as you need it, we are here.
We love you, Lola.