LFC murals tour celebrated end of chemo journey for teenage Reds’ fan Jude

A teenage Reds fan was taken on a murals tour of Anfield after completing 70 weeks of chemotherapy.

The trip was organised by RedMen TV after they heard about 16-year-old Jude Henry’s dream to visit every single wall-based work of art near LFC’s ground.

And there were even more surprises in store for the City of Liverpool College student when he was greeted by Jamie Carragher along with another former player Sammy Lee, and sent video messages from legends Jurgen Klopp, Jordan Henderson, Steven Gerrard, Robbie Fowler, Ian Rush and Jan Molby as he approached their very special tributes.

Jude’s mum Nicola Slater says:

“I have never seen my son smile so much, ever.

“The tour and the messages were more than we could ever have imagined, and Jude was in disbelief as we went round.

“He had never wanted to ring the bell to signal the end of his chemotherapy protocol, but this was the best celebration he could have had.”

And she adds:

“Jude was absolutely thrilled and he’s been a different boy ever since.

“It’s given him back his confidence and his belief in himself. It’s marked a brand-new start and future.”

Dan Clubbe, RedMen TV presenter, says:

“I love doing stuff like this and using our channel and platform to do good things is a no-brainer.

“We came across Jude’s story when Eddie Hincks came in to talk about the work of the Owen McVeigh Foundation which helps children and families with cancer, and while it was a simple request, we wondered what we could do to make it better. And it just spiralled!

“We were in the process of doing the Diogo Jota mural at the time and I was helping Marc Silver from MurWalls with that – and as soon as I mentioned it to him, he was like ‘what can we do?’.

“Not in my wildest dreams did I think we would have the legends that we did. It was pretty special, and I was proud not just of what we had achieved, with the help of Marc at MurWalls, Mark McVeigh and Eddie Hincks from Owen McVeigh Foundation, and Peter Martin from Liverpool Connect, but at the sense of pride from seeing Jude’s and his mum’s faces.

“To hear what it meant to them means the world to me.”

Jude, from Childwall, was just 10 and a pupil at St Francis Xavier School, when he was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis type one, a genetic disorder that causes benign tumours to grow.

MRI scans showed a large tumour on the back of Jude’s head which was stopping fluid from draining from his brain, as well as tumours on his optic nerve and smaller ones on the left side of his brain.

While the tumours were benign, left untreated they can become cancerous.

Nicola, who also has a daughter Niamh, 21 said:

“We had had months of x-rays and genetic testing, and blood tests, before the MRIs which led to Jude’s diagnosis, and when I was first told, I was shaking,”

“We were introduced to Professor Conor Mallucci at Alder Hey – who is a genius – who put his arm around me because I was doing such a bad job of trying not to show Jude I was scared stiff, and he told us he could fix this.”

The operation to remove Jude’s tumour in his cerebellum was carried out in June 2020: “I was told he might not be able to speak afterwards so I was on pins throughout the eight hours it took,” says Nicola. “But I was so relieved when he could, and when he walked out of bed the following day, his 11^th birthday, it was unbelievable – a sign of how strong he is and has been.

“His recovery was going well until last year and I was broken when we discovered the tumours had started growing again and Jude was going to need chemo. But he just accepted it like he had everything else and said ‘we’d better get cracking on with it’.

“It has been gruelling and so brutal, but Jude looks after everyone else, the younger ones in Alder Hey and at the Owen McVeigh Foundation which has lifted and supported us in our darkest times.”

Through the Owen McVeigh Foundation and stays in Alder Hey, Jude has met Liverpool players like Virgil van Dijk (who’s a patron of the Foundation) and been lucky enough to watch the players train at the AXA Training Centre.

Yet, while he had seen some of the murals, it was a dream to see them all in a single tour – and he did that at the end of August.

“To do the murals tour and have so many surprises along the way was just so emotional,” admits Nicola, who’s raised thousands for Alder Hey and the Owen McVeigh Foundation for whom she’s planning her sixth skydive in May 2026.

To add to LFC memorabilia that Jude already has, he was presented with a 2025/26 full squad signed LFC shirt from Dan, Marc, Peter and Mark McVeigh, and he also received prints from Marc Silver of Virgil’s mural, and a baseball cap.

“That, and to see people like Jamie Carragher and to have all the messages – and for Jurgen to sing Hey Jude on his! – was more than we could ever have expected.

“It’s helped Jude massively going forward.

“The tumours are never going to go away completely and Jude will continue to be monitored, but this has been a real celebration at the end of his chemotherapy journey.”