Sick girl meets Beckham
Siobhan Bostock, 8, suffers from Marfan syndrome
Cheryl Chan
The Province
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
David Beckham made a local girl's wish come true.
"I'm very excited, so excited," eight-year old Siobhan Bostock said from her East Vancouver home yesterday, a few hours before she met her soccer hero at a private meet-and-greet at B.C. Place Stadium.
"I have a bad back and can't play soccer . . . but I like him because he has great soccer skills," said Siobhan, who had prepared a poster and a card for the L.A. Galaxy midfielder who's in town for tonight's exhibition game against the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Siobhan, a Nootka Elementary third-grader who is "head over heels" for the handsome English soccer star, suffers from Marfan syndrome, a connective-tissue disorder in which her ligaments are too weak to support her body.
The progressive disease affects her heart and vision and causes her spine to curve, pressing down on her lungs and heart.
Two titanium rods, attached from the ribs to the bottom of her spine, were inserted in Siobhan's back two years ago to help hold her up.
When treated properly, Marfan's isn't life-threatening but requires surgery every six months to extend the rods as the patient grows.
Because of her condition, Siobhan cannot play any contact sport, although she occasionally kicks a ball around with her brother Rowan, 10.
Her love for the game was inherited from her soccer-mad family: Rowan plays in a community league that dad Andrew, originally from Manchester, coaches.
Mom Jacki admits to being "brainwashed" after more than a decade of Manchester United fanaticism. Even dog Chester is named after the family's favourite team.
When their wish to meet Beckham was granted Friday afternoon by the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation, "the children were running around the house with their shirts over their heads screaming," said Jacki.
Siobhan, who has already undergone five painful operations and is scheduled for a sixth on Dec. 20, struggles with "a lot of anxiety" before and after each operation, said her mom. "It's hard to watch."
Her mom called meeting Beckham a "phenomenal" experience for her daughter. "I think it's really going to show her that everyone thinks she's a brave little girl and she can take these memories with her." At a packed news conference at the Pan Pacific Hotel yesterday, a tanned and relaxed-looking Beckham said he planned to give one of his two game jerseys to Siobhan.
"I think it's great to be in a position to help people. People talk about the financial side . . . [and] the celebrity side, but there's nothing better than being able to make a difference," he said.
It is the 32-year-old soccer superstar's first visit to Vancouver -- but not his last. Round 2 of Beckhamania is slated for early December when he returns to the city with pop-star wife Victoria -- a.k.a. Posh Spice -- for the launch of the Spice Girls' reunion concert tour.
chchan@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Province 2007
I believe he is visiting a terminaly ill little girl today here in Vancouver. 
