Jay Tabb - A Special Man

Last updated : 05 July 2006 By GMK
This is an email sent to our good mates at GMK by Sean a Brentford fan about new signing Jay Tabb.

"Morning Coventry

I would appreciate it if the contents of this mail could be shared with Micky Adams, the club and the fans of Coventry City

I like my father before me have been a lifelong Brentford fan. As a result my two children have also been "dragged" down to Griffin Park from a very early age. We are season ticket holders and travel to the majority of away games as well.

In October last year (05) our life was shattered with the news that my 14 year old daughter Madelaine was diagnosed with Leukaemia. She was admitted to hospital to start a long treatment of chemotherapy.

After the initial shock I contacted Brentford to share the news with the club as she is so passionate about her team and the thought of missing them play was upsetting her a great deal. Within a day I was contacted by Martin Allen who asked me who was my daughters favourite player. Madelaine has always liked Jay Tabb. and so within a few days Martin and Jay both arrived at her bedside.

To say she was surprised was an understatement.

It was to be the first of many meetings with Jay. He gave Madelaine his phone number and asked if she wouldn't mind if he could text her to see how she was doing and to cheer her up.

Over the next 5 months whilst Madelaine was fighting cancer she received regular mail from Jay together with texts following matches on the bus home. Nothing was ever a problem to Jay.

He also took time out to visit Madelaine a further 4 times whilst in hospital, not to stay for 20 minutes but to spend a couple of hours chatting with her and also saying hello to other patients as well. Madelaine was discharged from hospital in March and is now in remission, she returned to school and managed to see the last few games of the season.

In Jay Tabb, you as a football team have a very talented footballer who will give you 200% every game. But you also have one of the maturest young men you could ever have the pleasure of meeting. He has an incredibly natural personality, very easy to talk to and a very easy listener.
He is an incredibly sincere and caring person.

As a further insight into Jay, at the first meeting with Madelaine, she was generously given Brentford souvenirs from Martin Allen, but she was also given one of Jays Irish shirts duly signed to Madelaine. He went on to give her further shirts and training kit following the end of the season.

He will remain a friend of our family for life, we will never give up our passion for Brentford but will of course be keeping a very close eye on his progress with Coventry and Ireland.

Madelaine has already asked if we can visit the Ricoh and watch Jay play and as long as it doesn't clash with the Bees I am sure we will.

My best wishes for the forthcoming season
Regards
Sean"