West Brom star James McClean donates £3k to child fighting cancer

McClean, 28, has donated £3,000 to Caleb Williamson, who has been battling an aggressive eye cancer since he was born.

He made the donation on Friday, just a day before he helped Ireland earn a 1-1 draw with Georgia in Tbilisi.

Seventeen-month-year-old Caleb has been travelling from Derry, Ireland, where McClean was born, to a hospital in Dublin every three weeks for examinations since he was just three days old.

Aged nine weeks, he was diagnosed with Retinablastoma, a rare form of cancer that rapidly develops from the cells of a retina.

He began six rounds of chemotherapy a week later in Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital, but got sepsis after his first round and almost died.

Despite the sickness and 20 aggressive tumours, Caleb finished his course of chemotherapy on October 25 and laser treatment has kept the condition under control since then.

However a dramatic turn has led to Caleb being referred to a specialised treatment centre in Switzerland to stop the tumours spreading from his optic nerve to his brain.

The cost of treatment is funded by the NHS but the costs of flights to Switzerland every fortnight and accommodation is mounting, leading to a JustGiving page being set up with a £1,000 target.

That target has since been smashed, currently standing at £3,343, mainly thanks to McClean.

Speaking to a paper in Ireland, Caleb's mum Jacqueline said: "I couldn't believe it when I saw it. I was completely and totally lost for words and in total shock. It's just amazing that someone could help us like that.

“I kept looking at the JustGiving page in the morning when the story went out. And then, at lunchtime I saw James McClean's name and this figure. I didn't believe it was happening. He will never know how much this means to us. It will make such a massive difference to us.”

This donation is the latest in a long line from the Albion winger, who so far this year has donated to crowdfunding appeals for a three-year-old’s heart transplant, for another three-year-old’s life-changing operation, to buy a caravan for a pregnant homeless woman and to aid the search for a missing Derry man.

Those wanting to donate to Caleb can visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/sarah-breslin