Newcastle United players meet little Evie during hospital visit

Evie Campbell is visited in hospital by players from Newcastle United's men's and women's teams.

Evie, from Shilbottle, was diagnosed with Diamond-Blackfan anaemia (DBA) at the age of eight weeks.

The condition, caused by a failure in the bone marrow and characterised by an inability to produce red blood cells, affects only around 125 people in the UK. It requires intensive therapy and has no known cure.

Evie was in hospital on Tuesday when the Toon stars dropped in to sign autographs and give out presents as, despite only being six years old, she was undergoing her 39th blood transfusion.

Mum Rebecca said: “It’s fantastic that the team come along and show their support to poorly children in hospital and put a smile on their faces.”

Posting on the Facebook page, Evie’s DBA Journey, she added: ‘If I’m honest I think I was more excited about meeting them than Evie!

‘It’s only been three weeks since her last transfusion but Evie was ready for it and we didn’t want her feeling dreadful over Christmas.’

After failing steroid treatment, Evie is blood transfusion dependent every four weeks.

She has iron overload from having so many transfusions and takes medicine to remove the excess iron from her body.

Her bone marrow is failing and she will require a bone marrow transplant.