A TERMINALLY-ILL dad has fulfilled the dream of a lifetime by meeting his football idols.

Tom Cooper, 24, and his wife Tammy, were given the chance to meet a handful of Manchester United football stars while he was receiving treatment for a rare form of cancer at specialist cancer hospital, The Christie.

The dad-of-two was diagnosed with the throat cancer 15 months ago, which has since spread behind the nose, to the lymph nodes, to the collar bone, under both arms and in his lungs.

Because of the rare nature of his illness doctors have told Tom that they do not know how long he has left.

Tammy, 23, said: “Tom is now receiving treatment at The Christie.

“During a recent visit we found out the football club was going to be visiting the hospital and its patients.

“The staff made sure Tom had an appointment on the day they visited and we got to meet them all.

“He absolutely loved it. Wayne Rooney is his idol and he even gave him a present.

She added: “Tom is currently on the fifth round of six chemotherapy sessions and this time it has really hit him hard.

“We know his condition will never get any better and that any treatment he receives now is just trying to prolong his life.”

The couple who live in Burnley and send their two daughters to a nursery and school in Simonstone and Clitheroe, have also just been on a trip to Disneyland Paris.

Their family and friends organised several sponsored events including a pub crawl and a ladies night and collected more than £1,000 to send the family, including two-year-old Ziani and Tienna, five, on the magical trip.

Tammy said: “The love and support we have had has been absolutely overwhelming. Never did we imagine people would be so generous. The trip was really special and helped the child to create some lasting memories with their daddy.

“Tom’s a big kid too and loved going on the rides.”

Former nail technician Tammy, 23, has quit her job to be Tom’s full-time carer and he has given up his job as a maintenance worker for Accent Housing due to his ill health.

The community rallied around for the pair helping them to wed in a £20,000 ceremony in April last year.