A young Celtic fan who defied medics to start primary school has been dubbed the team's 'lucky charm' by football fans.
Noah Connell, five, who has been diagnosed with Pierre Robin Sequence, got to watch his favourite team win 4-0 in the Glasgow derby at the weekend. The tot was born with part of his spine missing, an underdeveloped jaw, cleft palate, small neck and floppy airway.
Due to facial abnormalities caused by the syndrome, he suffers from problems with breathing, meaning he cannot swallow and even getting caught in the rain could kill him if water entered his mouth. Noah was the first child in the UK to have a complex procedure where metal scaffolding was screwed into his face to help shift his jaw and let him breathe.
After starting primary school last month, Noah got to celebrate another milestone when he watched Celtic triumph over Rangers at home on Saturday. Noah, from Barmulloch, Glasgow, wore a personalised Celtic shirt for his first outing to Paradise, where he has been before to meet team mascot Hoopy.
He was gifted tickets from the John O'Byrne Foundation, set up by charity hero John in 2015 and Celtic fans treated Noah like a celeb at Parkhead. He was taken to the match by gran Annemarie Connell, 46, who helped him cheer as Liel Abada smashed two goals into the net, with another from Jota and a fourth from David Turnbull.
Mum-of-one Jade Gordon, 23, said: "He had an absolute ball. It's just so emotional as he absolutely loves Celtic. We only found out on Friday. John had contacted me to ask if he would like to go as he had two tickets for accessible seating.
"He loves 'Walk On', his face lit up and and he was doing wee fist pumps and kicking his legs. It was really emotional, his gran said she had goosebumps.
"It's a tradition, we've followed them for years, his gran's a massive fan. Annemarie said every time they scored he was kicking his legs and absolutely loving it.
"All the Celtic fans were coming up to him after and rubbing his head and saying 'God bless you wee man'."
Rain poses a big health risk to Noah but the seats were under a sheltered area, and by the time the match finished the downpour had stopped. Noah was so excited he fell asleep at half time.
Jade said: "We said to him 'you'd better bring home three points'. Everybody was saying 'he's Celtic's lucky charm'.
"It's a big thing for our family it's years and years of supporting Celtic. Everybody is Celtic daft, his dad Kieran is.
"His grandad used to sing the songs to him. We take him to Celtic Park at Christmas and he has been at Hallowe'en.
"We want to say a big thank you to John O'Byrne, his foundation is amazing. It's something that we will cherish forever, hopefully there will be many more trips to Celtic Park."
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