Joshua, age 6, has been under the care of Royal Brompton from birth and earlier this week, was given the opportunity to meet his football idols.

Organised by our Charity as a result of a long-term relationship with the Chelsea Foundation, Joshua was invited with dad Alan to watch Chelsea train, before the opportunity for photos and autographs.

Among the famous faces were David Luiz (pictured left), Ruben Loftus-Cheek and new signing, Gonzalo Higuain.  

Joshua’s mum Suzy said, “It was literally a once in a lifetime experience that neither Joshua or his dad will ever forget.”

Joshua was born at 28 weeks and weighed just 2lbs 7oz. He was diagnosed with congenital heart disease while during pregnancy and at just one day old was transferred to Royal Brompton’s paediatric intensive care unit (PICU).

He had two holes in his heart and a narrowing of the aorta, the main artery in the body. Before his first surgery soon after birth, Joshua still only weighed 2lbs 10oz and his heart was the size of a walnut. Twelve weeks after his first operation, he was ready for his second, this time weighing 5lbs 5oz.

Eventually, Joshua could go home 22 weeks after he was born, having spent 19 weeks on PICU. Now age 6, Joshua is reaching all his normal developmental milestones and is a happy, excitable young boy.