Latics star's medal gift to Lexi-Mae cause

The 23-year-old put his medal up for sale on eBay earlier this summer as an incredible gesture of support for the family of two-year-old Lexi-Mae Brown from Spring View, who has Edwards’ Syndrome.

Bidding for the medal reached an astonishing £820, with Power’s team-mate Nick Powell making it up to a round £1,000.

The winning bidder, John Alker, bought the medal as a gift for his dad Ken.

And both were at the club’s Euxton training ground - along with Lexi-Mae and her family - to meet Max for the handing-over ceremony.

“My dad’s very difficult to buy presents for,” said John.

“Anything you buy him very rarely ends up being used.

“It was coming up to Father’s Day, Max made the brilliant gesture of putting his medal up for sale, so I thought I’d have a go.

“Thankfully I got the winning bid, and I was happy enough with that.

“But Max was kind enough to invite us down to the training ground to present it to us in person, which was fantastic.

“Having met the family too, it’s nice to see the money going to such a good cause.”

Max himself was glad to see the medal go to a good home, as well as raise so much money which will go towards a family holiday.

“I’ve got to know the family over the last two years and, when you see the stuff going on elsewhere with Bradley Lowery, it makes you realise how important health is - especially when you have kids yourself,” admitted the Latics midfielder.

“For me it was just a little way of giving something back, and be able to help the family.

“I can’t imagine, but it must be really tough to raise a disabled child, so any way I can help, I will.

“The medal means a lot to me but, in the grand scheme of things, the materialistic things really aren’t that important.

“The memories from that season will always be there, and that’s what’s important to me.

“Hopefully we can win another League One title medal this year so I’ll have one for myself.”

Edwards Syndrome is an incurable genetic disorder which leads to severe disability.