Joseph Thompson named Express & Star's Wolves Fan of the Season

The 12-year-old from Pensnett has Duchenne Muscular Distrophy, a muscle-wasting disease that has left him in a wheelchair, limits his movement and means he cannot move his legs.

Despite operations which have left him needing a colostomy bag and metal rods inserted in his spine to help him sit up straight, Joseph hasn't missed a Wolves game for the last four years.

"He's Wolves through and through and we go to every game, home and away," said his dad Jason, aged 41, a season ticket holder for more than 20 years.

"We buy the Express & Star every night and we applied not expecting to hear anything, so we were really shocked when we got the call saying we'd won.

"Joseph was ever so excited and can't believe it – he's met the players a lot but he's always thrilled to do it. The school he attends – Chadsgrove Disabled School in Bromsgrove – announced he'd won in assembly in front of all the kids.

"He's wheelchair-bound and he has to be hoisted in and out of bed. He had an operation to have metal rods inserted in his spine so he can sit up and he had to have a colostomy bag fitted.

"He wears splints on his feet and has to have regular check-ups two or three times a year at Birmingham Children's Hospital.

"But his health is OK at the moment and he gets on with his life and doesn't complain. He's worse when it's cold. I have to wrap him up really well and take a hot water bottle."

With such health difficulties, it took a global contest to spark Joseph's interest in the game. "Being a season ticket holder, every weekend I used to leave him to go to the games and his mum, my wife Jackie, had to work so he'd have to stay with my parents," added Jason. "It was the 2010 World Cup when he got into football. He was hooked.

"I took him to his first Wolves game, a pre-season friendly against Athletic Bilbao and since then I've taken him to every game, home and away.

"He can't get enough of Wolves – he goes to the training ground during school holidays and whenever he can," said his dad, who works as an upholstery supervisor in Telford. "Wolves gives him so much pleasure – he's so happy when he's there singing the songs. "

Watching Wolves is a real family affair for the Thompsons, with father and son joined when possible by Joseph's sister Chloe, 17, and mum Jackie, 41, a supervisor of domestics at Dudley's Russell's Hall Hospital at home games.

Brierley Hill's Danny Batth – who is from a few streets away from the Thompson household – is his favourite player. "After the Gillingham game, Danny came over and gave him his shirt and now we've got it framed above Joseph's bed," said Jason.