Raheem Sterling dedicated his second goal against the Czech Republic on Friday night to tragic London schoolboy Damary Dawkins, who died from leukaemia last week.
Dawkins was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), a form of blood cancer, in 2014 and passed away just six weeks after his 13th birthday despite undergoing a stem cell transplant in the new year.
He had also been treated with chemotherapy before medics decided that a transplant was necessary.
England star Sterling had made an appeal for stem cell donors from his social media account last July and revealed a tribute to the youngster under his shirt having put his side 3-0 up at Wembley.
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The Manchester City forward - who pointed skywards after all of his goals - went on to complete his hat-trick before being replaced by Callum Hudson-Odoi.
"Damary was a kid I was trying to help," Sterling said. "We thought we'd found a donor but sadly it didn't match and sadly he passed away.
"I wanted to give the family something to smile about."
Dawkins, who was a member of Crystal Palace's elite development squad, received the support of the Premier League club and Sterling in his bid to find a donor.
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None of the youngster's family were a match, which reduced his chances of finding a donor considerably.
Around 69 per cent of patients can find a match from a stranger, a figure that drops to just 20 per cent for those from a black, Asian or ethnic minority background.
Therefore a campaign - #march4damary - was launched by the charity African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT) to find a stem cell donor.
A successful match was found in the U.S. but although Dawkins was able to undergo the transplant, he passed away last Sunday.
Beverley De-Gale, co-founder at ACLT said: “All of us here at ACLT were devastated to hear the news of young Damary passing. Damary was a determined young boy; passionate about life.
“He enjoyed being active with swimming and martial arts, however football was his first love.
“Our thoughts are with his family, particularly his parents Nadine and Tony and sister Ptamone.
"The loss of a loved one is devastating, however the loss of a child is incomprehensible. This is why I can’t emphasise enough how important it is for us all, to take action and join the stem cell registers as it could lead to us all saving a life like Damary’s."
