The ECHO chats to Mark McVeigh of the Owen McVeigh Foundation ahead of his involvement in handing Liverpool the Premier League title at Anfield this weekend
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The flag which flies on the Kop in memory of Owen McVeigh (pictured with dad Mark)
It was approaching 4pm last Thursday when Mark McVeigh took a call from Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan while making his route to Alder Hey Children's Hospital.
Having worked together across much of the last decade while the club have supported the charity foundation named in honour of his son, Owen, the call was not entirely a bolt from the blue.
This time, though, Reds chief Hogan, was not calling to check in on how plans for an abseil down the Anglican Cathedral in July were shaping up, or how the recent Thunder and Lighting Ball went at the Hilton Hotel.
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Instead, Hogan was reaching out on behalf of Liverpool FC with a special gesture of gratitude for how the Owen McVeigh Foundation has enriched the lives of children with terminal illnesses and provided respite for families experiencing unimaginable grief these past nine years.
Owen was only 11 when he passed away in December 2015, just days after being diagnosed with leukaemia and the Foundation that has carried his name ever since has become a vital source of help, through the oncology ward at Alder Hey, for those enduring similar heartbreak.
As a unique way of paying tribute to Mark and wife Joanne for their tireless work in the Merseyside community, Hogan was calling to ask if the McVeighs would be interested in playing a part in the first league title presentation in front of Liverpool fans for 35 years this Sunday, when Virgil van Dijk and co get their hands on the Reds' record-equalling 20th championship.
It's an honour that deeply touched the McVeighs. So much so, in fact, that Mark was forced to pull up at the side of the road to take in what it will mean to line up on the pitch just moments before Liverpool lift the title in front of 60,000 supporters. It was a gesture that reduced him to tears, he admits.
"When Billy rang me, I just had to pull over and take a minute, you know?" Mark tells the ECHO. "And I've cried non-stop ever since!
"Every time I think about it...but what an opportunity to get on Sunday, it's not lost on us the magnitude of it, it's just unreal. I am just humbled beyond belief to be honest with you.
"It's just a bit of a shock, isn't it? When he tells you something like that...I have followed Liverpool all my life and it isn't lost on me the enormity of this. Just two local kids from Canny (Cantril) Farm, you know, the pair of us getting the opportunity to represent our club and it isn't lost on us.
"I know everyone would love to do this but we represent all the local fanbase and beyond, doing something like this. So it was lovely to share with our parents after some difficult times, it was lovely to have something really, really nice to share with them. We had a little barbecue and we told them and they were ecstatic for us."
For the McVeighs, who are regulars at Anfield, there is extra poignancy to their appearance as special guests on the day. Captain Van Dijk has been a long-term champion of the Owen McVeigh Foundation, helping the organisation put on events for children such as pizza and cinema nights, meet-and-greets and various other ways of support that the Liverpool skipper has always been too modest to make public.
"He's been so kind to us over a long number of years now and he has backed the Owen McVeigh Foundation to the hilt," Mark says. "So, yes, I am just excited to see him at the weekend and give him a great big hug!
"Virgil been wonderful for us, as parents and as people and obviously in regards to the foundation as well. He always got it, he always understood what it is all about and he has shown with his actions and his wife, Rike, we're so thankful to them both and I can't wait to see them."
For Liverpool and their supporters, there is a certain sense of symbolism in having the legendary Alan Hansen on hand to present Van Dijk with the Premier League trophy itself on the day.
While the McVeighs will bring the gleaming piece of silver from the pitchside area before placing it on a plinth, it will be Hansen who will formally hand the title to Van Dijk himself.
The iconic Scot, who has fought back from serious illness that left him hospitalised 11 months ago, was the most recent club captain to hoist the league championship aloft at a packed Anfield and the 35-year wait for fans to see a repeat has felt like an eternity.
Lifelong Reds fans Mark counts himself among that innumerable group, adding: "I was there the last time he lifted the trophy in 1990 and he was a hero of mine, most definitely.
"I just think the club have got it spot on: from one great centre-half to another, two unbelievable captains of this football club. It wouldn't get any better than those two as a partnership, would it?
"It's just humbling and when I saw the release [on Thursday], in writing, and you see your name next to Alan Hansen, who is like another god of the football club, isn't he?
"And it's really nice because I got to meet Alan recently with his wife at one of our lunch clubs and we got to sit with them and talk with them and it's so nice now that I get to meet him again doing this special thing now as well. It's just brilliant.
"I don't know too much about his personal stuff but he looked really well and him and his wife were really lovely. We spent a good afternoon together, supporting the Owen McVeigh Foundation at one of the lunches we do at the Arts School and it was nice just to be amongst him for that day.
"He told me he was playing golf the next day, so he is obviously still up and at it. I do know he's a good golfer from what I have read, but clearly he is still out there."
As the Owen McVeigh Foundation started to build its legacy following the passing of the 11-year-old Reds fan, a slogan became attached to a special flag that was created in Owen’s memory, adapted by the Spion Kop 1906 group from an original pencil image drawn by his aunt, Natalie.
Its a poignant, silhouetted image of a dad and lad, hand in hand, carrying the simple message: 'It’s off to the match we go'. Never has the phrase been more fitting for the McVeigh family this weekend.