Matt Unwin promised his dying friend, Mike Oldfield, that he would look after his son, Josh. After Mike passed away, Josh moved to Wirral and is now living independently, two doors away from Matt.
Friendship forged through Everton FC
When two Everton fans met on an online forum in 2010, they had no idea they would be making a promise to each other that would keep them connected for years to come. Meeting on the football fan forum Toffee Talk 15 years ago, Matt Unwin and Mike Oldfield initially built a bond through a mutual love of Everton FC, but quickly became close friends.
Matt told the ECHO: "Mike and I became quite close over that time through the forum and he helped me through a lot of difficulties a while back. He was a non-judgmental person to try and reach out to or to explain things to." After their friendship had initially begun online, it wasn't until a couple of years later that the friends met in person for the first time when Mike made the trip up to Goodison from his home in Devon and Matt jetted in from his then home in Switzerland.
Cancer diagnosis and a promise made
However, not long later, Mike was dealt a heartbreaking blow. Matt said: "Not long after we'd met, Mike got his first throat cancer diagnosis and started doing a lot of work with Macmillan." Mike had his surgery and kept them updated, chatting about that and saying how things were going. "Then, he was clear for a year or so, but then he got a second cancer diagnosis. And I think three days after that his son, Josh, his mum died. So all of Mike's care basically fell upon Josh's shoulders."
While Mike was given a brief glimmer of hope when he was given the all clear for a second time, his cancer returned in 2018 and Josh, who was then 22, was by his dad's side to give full time care once again. Sadly, Mike was unable to attend the Everton men's last game at Goodison in 2024, so Matt, who now lives in Wirral, decided to go to Devon to watch it with Mike and Josh at home.
He said: "For the last game at Goodison, I went and surprised Mike and Josh down at their house in Devon so that we could watch the final game together. It was only when I went down to watch the game with them that I saw just how bad a state Mike was in. When I was about to head back home, we just sat on the couch and Mike just gave me a pat on the leg. And I said, 'look, I've told you I'd look after Josh, so don't worry about that'. He just gave me a hug, and I think we both knew that we were saying goodbye."
Helping Josh rebuild his life
A month later, Mike sadly lost his battle with cancer, leaving Josh to fend for himself for the first time in his life. Matt said: "When Mike passed, Josh was basically on his own, in the house that he'd grown up in. He had no idea how to operate in the real world. His focus since he was like 17 or 18 until his late 20s was, 'I need to make sure my dad's OK'. He's actually really well-versed in patient care, but has no life skills because he just didn't have to. He didn't have the opportunity to learn like most other people would. He just didn't know how the world operated."
After seeing just how much Josh had struggled to fend for himself in the months after his dad's death, Matt decided to follow through on his promise to Mike. He said: "He gave me a call in January this year saying, 'is the offer for me to stay with you still open?' I was like, 'Yeah, you just need to make some decisions, some moves. Here's what I would do in your position.' And then we got him in in January. It had always been his dream for Josh and his dad to move up to Liverpool. So I thought, not just for a promise for Mike, but also for Josh, I said, 'well, you've given up so much, and you missed out on so much, the least I can do is give you an opportunity up here to make that life that you and your dad wanted.'"
Inspiration from Everton in the Community
A huge part of Matt's motivation to step in and help Josh had stemmed from previously attending Everton in the Community's Sleepout, which sees participants brave a night sleeping in the stands in a bid to raise money for homeless charities. It was in doing so that Matt learned how people in Josh's position can so easily end up homeless after spending so much of their lives being a full-time carer for others.
He said: "The thing that clicked for me was that homelessness is not just people on the streets. I'd never considered that homelessness just means someone who doesn't have a home. Being in a spare room or on a couch for a couple of weeks, and not knowing where you're going to be the next day, is also homelessness. It's not having a place to call your own. That was my inspiration as well to say, 'well, that's going to be Josh, because he hasn't got a place to go.'"
Despite struggling to adapt to his new life living with Matt, alongside the help of Matt's wife Candice and daughter Eleanor, Josh has taken significant strides in the right direction and is now living independently, two doors away from Matt and is continuing to look for a job.
