A Marvel superfan from Whitley Bay who is recovering in hospital after undergoing open-heart surgery was surprised with a special video message from Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds.
Ivan Hollingsworth's son Seb was born with a congenital heart condition and underwent lifesaving surgery at just 16 weeks old. And now 13 years on, Seb was back at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle to undergo surgery to help improve his heart function with the same doctor, Mr Asif Hasan, carrying out the procedure.
And while proud dad Ivan sat at his son's bedside, he decided he wanted to do something special for him and tweeted to see whether any Marvel superheroes could send a message to his own hero son. Amazingly, Deadpool himself answered the dad's plea and sent a sweet video to Seb to help with his recovery.
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Ivan was holding back tears as he played the message to his brave boy, who was stunned at what he was seeing.
"Hi, I’m Ryan. You can call me Deadpool, call me Green Lantern, call me anything you like,” Ryan Reynolds said in the clip.
"I hear you’re going through it pal. It sounds like you've got a ton of amazing people who are in your corner and love you very much. I just want to send you all my well wishes and send you all my love."
He added: "I hope we get to meet in person one of these days, pal. Hang in there, you are doing amazing and I'm super proud of you."
Ever since doctors saved his son's life, the grateful dad, along with Seb's mum Nadine, has been determined to give something back to the Children’s Heart Unit and have spent their lives fundraising and helping others. But Ivan said getting a message for Seb was something purely for the deserving little boy.
He said: "We have spent 13 years fundraising and over that time, we've helped get video messages for children from celebrities but we've never done anything for ourselves. I was sitting by Seb thinking how proud I was of him and I thought I really wanted to do this for Seb, he really deserves it.
"I thought I'm never going to get celebrities like Ryan Reynolds, Chris Hemsworth, or Robert Downey Jr because there must be so many other people asking the same thing. But I was running some webinars and my phone kept vibrating. It was going mad, all my friends were telling me to open my DMs as Ryan Renolds wanted to message me on Twitter.
"I couldn't believe it, I tweeted a picture of Seb's bedroom with Deadpool and Free Guy and I said it will mean so much to Seb. When I showed Seb the video he had the biggest smile on his face, he was just over the moon.
"Ryan has just been amazing, he's sent some lovely messages to Seb and we were just sitting in tears just thanking him. To do this for our little boy is such a lovely thing to do, he's made Seb's day."
But despite getting a message from a Marvel superhero, Ivan knows Seb and Mr Asif Hasan, who carried out both his surgeries, are true heroes.
He said Seb is "doing really well" and thanked Mr Hasan for everything he has done describing him as "incredible" and a "role model".
He said: "Seb is really sore and tired from everything he's gone through but he's doing really well. He's come out of intensive care which has some of the most poorly children and is just a parent's worst nightmare but to come out of there is a massive step in the right direction.
"Mr Asif Hasan is pretty incredible and we have become really close through fundraising for the Children's Heart Unit Fund (CHUF). He is nearing the end of his career and he's leaving lots of procedures for his staff but he always said he wanted to do Seb.
"He is just incredible. We've heard about how amazing the NHS is over recent years and they are but some people take it to another level and there are lots of people in the heart unit who are like that including Asif Hasan. He is such a role model and a true hero."
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