Copyright dailyrecord
A seriously-ill youngster who listens to sea shanty star Nathan Evans to get him through his surgeries was overjoyed to meet his idol ahead of his sell-out Hydro gig. Baxter Dick was not expected to survive when he was born with a string of complex health problems, including spina bifida and fluid on the brain. Against all odds, the schoolboy, from Aberdeen , battled back but has had to face 14 ops in the last three years - with one recent hospital stay lasting three months . His mum Ailsa said she was able to tell Nathan how much his music means to her son when the family met him and Scots pop duo Saint Phnx for a sound check ahead of their show on Saturday - the day of Baxter’s 14th birthday. She said: “Nathan’s version of Auld Lang Syne is one of the songs Baxter listens to when he goes into theatre to calm him down and zone him into a space where he is able to cope. “Nathan Evans has got him through so much stuff. He loves all the songs and the shanties got him thorough lockdown because it was really awful for him. “The day the tickets went on sale was the day he got his most recent shunt put in. He went into theatre saying ‘we need to get the tickets’. I missed out on them and the first thing he asked when he came round was ‘did you get them?’ I felt awful. But the John O’Byrne Foundation made it happen. “I was able to tell Nathan what he has done for Baxter.” Baxter returned home to Aberdeen earlier this month after being flown to Glasgow for emergency surgery in July, which resulted in multiple infections and meningitis. It meant he and his mum were separated from dad James, big brother Brodie, 16, and sister Caledonia, 10, for several months. Ailsa said: “We’ve spent so much time in Glasgow in the last three years. “Medically he’s very complex and possibly the most complicated cases of Hydrocephalus in the country. “Being in the hospital so much is difficult. He misses out on a lot of life. We were in over Christmas and new year and he’s just missed a whole term of school. “He gets multiple headaches daily and sitting up is a problem for him, but he doesn’t complain.” Nathan Evans announced his biggest live show yet at the Ovo Hydro from the main stage at TRNSMT in the summer. The former Postman shot to fame in 2021 when he was discovered posting songs on TikTok. Since then he has toured the world. Ailsa said Saturday’s Hydro show had given Baxter his “best birthday ever”. She said: “He stayed until the very end. He spent all the next day paying for it and had a very sore head, but he said it was so worth it. He was so happy and went into school telling everyone about it.” John O’Byrne, who spent much of his childhood in hospital suffering from brittle bones, has had to put much of his foundation work on the backburner in recent months due to his own health problems. But when he met Baxter he knew he wanted to help and used a connection to Saint Phnx’s Stevie Jukes to make his birthday wish happen. John said: “When I met Baxter a while back I was between operations myself and wasn’t feeling well at all. But when he told me what he’d been through and how much he loved Nathan and Saint Phnx, I knew I had to sort something.”
