Manchester City star Raheem Sterling is paying for the funeral of Crystal Palace youth Damary Dawkins, who passed away last month from acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Sterling struck up a friendship with the 13-year-old, celebrating an England goal by lifting his shirt to reveal an undershirt emblazoned with a photo of the pair.
[ MORE: Everton pummels Manchester United ]
The Man City player had tried to raise awareness for the need for stem cell donations, noting that there was a small pool of African-Caribbean donors available and people needed to get tested to find a match.
Dawkins died last month, and Sterling said, “Damary was a special young man who touched a lot of lives, including my own. Positive until the very end, he was an example to us all.”