Werkself pros visit children’s clinic

Lars Bender, Stefan Kießling and Roberto Hilbert were eagerly awaited and the trio received a great response on arrival by the children, nurses and doctors on the ward. The pre-Christmas visit has become a tradition and is now in it’s fifth year.

The children’s eyes lit up when their idols entered the room on Wednesday. The ward nurses had prepared everything in advance: the room was decorated in club colours and games were organised. The pros and the children formed teams to take part in a quiz and play ball games against each other. There were no losers on the day as everyone received a medal. The kids were given presents at the end and the players were happy to spare lots of time for chats, signatures and photos.

Stefan Kießling had great fun and he said: “Your heart goes out to them when you see how much the kids enjoy it. It feels great. It was real fun with the youngsters.” Dr. Jonas Kreth, the senior doctor of the ward, was also happy about the visit: “It was an absolute highlight for the kids. They’d been talking about it weeks ahead of the visit and they will keep on talking about for ages. Those sorts of memories last forever.”

Bayer 04 and the Klinikum Leverkusen have worked together closely for years. The BayArena was recently lit up in purple to draw attention to the World Prematurity Day and show support to the hospital.

“Calling in here goes without saying for us as we can give the children a few great moments,” said Meinolf Sprink, Bayer 04 fans and community affairs director.