A Wrexham football fan has died a month after Ryan Reynolds made one of his final wishes come true. The Hollywood legend arranged a special day for Jay Fear at the Racecourse stadium on the day the team won promotion to the Football League.
After the meeting, Ryan said he was "chocked up" after meeting the 45-year-old. Learning of Mr Fear's death he paid tribute saying he will "never forget" the fan he described as "exceptional".
Writing on his social media accounts, Ryan said: "So grateful to have spent time with Jay Fear. He didn’t have much of it left and the fact he shared that time so freely with others is something I’ll never take for granted and never forget. This man lived. Sending all my love to Deb, Jess and Sam."
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After being treated to a VIP day out at the Racecourse last month, Jay said his family would remember it forever. He had been diagnosed with terminal appendix cancer in January and was trying to fit as much as he could in the time he had left with his wife and teenage children.
Given months to live, Jay modestly asked to go and watch Wrexham play, and after hearing the wish Ryan privately sent Jay a video saying “I’m in your corner” and pledging to try and find him on the historic day for the club.
After watching docuseries Welcome to Wrexham while recovering from his operation last year Jay, from Southampton, fell in love with the city, club and Wrexham FC’s owners Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. "I've loved Ryan Reynolds since his Van Wilder days, but it turns out he's a gent in real life too," Jay told WalesOnline.
And in true Hollywood style they did get to meet before the game with Jay explaining that he was nearly caught off guard because the first thing the actor did when they met was give him a big hug.
"He is quite a huggy person," Jay told BBC Radio Wales. "He is lovely. He had this Deadpool glove on. He said he had two gloves and the one he was wearing was one he wore in the film Deadpool 2. He took it off and told me he wanted to give it to me. He nearly caught me off guard with that. He is a really, really nice guy."
Jay and his family were taken by stretch limousine from his house in Southampton to the stadium in Wrexham and when they arrived at the ground he was even recognised by some fans, who told him, "we are so glad you managed to get here, hope you have a great day."
"That was a little bit of a bizarre moment," Jay told Oliver Hides. "I thought they would take us into a room and Ryan would be there but they took us behind the goal at the end that is being rebuilt and they said that Ryan was going to meet us there because if we did it too close to the fans there would be a frenzy. The area we were in was able to be blocked off.
"Then all of a sudden we saw Ryan walking casually with all the Disney+ crew. He walked across the pitch, jumped over the banner and gave us all a hug." The actor also invited Jay and his family to watch the latest Deadpool being filmed in London in six weeks time.
Jay explained; "He was trying to make me wobble but I was thinking 'you are not going to do this to me you so-and-so'. I don't want to make it all about me because it is my family who are going to be having the memories of this, and he did spend a bit of time with them and gave them all a hug, and chatted with them.
"I told him I really hoped to be around when Deadpool 3 comes around and he said he would get us up to see the filming and go out for lunch. It was a another surreal moment in what was a surreal weekend.
"You are never cool to your kids but my son went mental because Ryan followed him on social media. He sent a message to Ryan saying thank you and Ryan told him he was choked up meeting me.
