Christopher Kessaris will be celebrating his 9th birthday in a few weeks but he received the best birthday present imaginable yesterday. Rising Essendon stars Andrew Welsh and Shane Harvey visited the mad Bombers supporter at his primary school in Essendon. The grade three student couldn’t keep the smile from his face when the Essendon duo surprised him in the middle of class and presented him with a bag of Essendon goodies including a hat signed by Matthew Lloyd.

Christopher suffers from Spinal Muscular Atrophy and is restricted to his motorised wheelchair – which is red and black! The eight year old has never missed an Essendon match on the television and his favourite players are James Hird, Matthew Lloyd, Dustin Fletcher, Shane Harvey and Andrew Welsh. He also has a soft spot for Bombers coach Kevin Sheedy.

Christopher and his family hope with continuing research he may be able to walk one day without his splints and walker. Christopher’s favourite subjects are maths and computers and he plans to become a doctor when he is older. “I have always wanted to be a doctor since I was young. I want to help sick people and make them better,” Chris said.