Ryan Reynolds got "choked up" when he met a Wrexham fan with terminal cancer during the celebrations at the Racecourse on Saturday.
Dad-of-two Jay Fear has been diagnosed with terminal appendix cancer and high up his wish list was to get to meet the Hollywood actor. And he got to do just that on the day the club sealed promotion to the EFL with a 3-1 victory to win the National League title. You can see all the best pictures from the day here.
Given months to live, Jay modestly asked to go and watch Wrexham play, and after hearing the wish Ryan privately sent Jay a video saying “I’m in your corner” and pledging to try and find him at Saturday's game.
After watching docuseries Welcome to Wrexham while recovering from his operation last year Jay, from Southampton, fell in love with the city, club and Wrexham FC’s owners Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. "I've loved Ryan Reynolds since his Van Wilder days, but it turns out he's a gent in real life too," Jay told WalesOnline.
And in true Hollywood style they did get to meet before the game with Jay explaining that he was nearly caught off guard because the first thing the actor did when they met was give him a big hug.
"He is quite a huggy person," Jay told BBC Radio Wales. "He is lovely. He had this Deadpool glove on. He said he had two gloves and the one he was wearing was one he wore in the film Deadpool 2. He took it off and told me he wanted to give it to me. He nearly caught me off guard with that. He is a really, really nice guy."
Jay and his family were taken by stretch limousine from his house in Southampton to the stadium in Wrexham on Saturday morning. When they arrived at the ground he was even recognised by some fans, who told him, "we are so glad you managed to get here, hope you have a great day."
"That was a little bit of a bizarre moment," Jay told Oliver Hides. "I thought they would take us into a room and Ryan would be there but they took us behind the goal at the end that is being rebuilt and they said that Ryan was going to meet us there because if we did it too close to the fans there would be a frenzy. The area we were in was able to be blocked off.
"Then all of a sudden we saw Ryan walking casually with all the Disney+ crew. He walked across the pitch, jumped over the banner and gave us all a hug." The actor also invited Jay and his family to watch the latest Deadpool being filmed in London in six weeks time.
Jay explained; "He was trying to make me wobble but I was thinking 'you are not going to do this to me you so-and-so'. I don't want to make it all about me because it is my family who are going to be having the memories of this, and he did spend a bit of time with them and gave them all a hug, and chatted with them.
"I told him I really hoped to be around when Deadpool 3 comes around and he said he would get us up to see the filming and go out for lunch. It was a another surreal moment in what was a surreal weekend.
"You are never cool to your kids but my son went mental because Ryan followed him on social media. He sent a message to Ryan saying thank you and Ryan told him he was choked up meeting me.
"It helps me immensely. I was first diagnosed in October 2021 and after a big operation I was cancer free for a year but it came back and has spread to my lungs. Straightaway I said I was going to carry on going to work because I would be crazy to stop dead in my tracks.
"Now I have got six weeks to be fit and well to see the filming in London. I am staying positive and I think the longer I stay positive, the longer I can drag this out."
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