Raheem Sterling's sister took him to football training every day when she was 17 and the England star says he owes his success to her.
Lakima, now 30, dedicated her time to her little brother while their mum, Nadine Clarke, worked hard.
Sterling said his stepsister "sacrificed her life" for him, so he did his best to succeed in his career and make sure his family would not need to worry financially.
The 26-year-old footballer was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and lived in a three-bedroom bungalow with ten members of his extended family.
He was only two when his dad Phillip Slated was shot dead by gangsters.
During his childhood, Sterling saw his mum work around the clock as a cleaner to fund a degree course and his sister trying to contribute to the family's finances by cleaning toilets.
In a 2018 article for The Players' Tribune, Sterling said: "My family, we were really tight. We had to be. All we had was us, you know?"
When he was four, his mum moved to the UK, hoping to have a better life, so Sterling and his stepsister Lakima were left with their grandma Joy Morris.
Two years later, the pair joined their mum in the UK, moving to Neasden, north-west London.
When he started football training in London, he needed to take three different buses to train in Heathrow every day, but his mum did not want him to go alone, so Lakima stepped in to help.
She always waited for him to finish his training, sitting in the cafe until he finished.
The footballer said: "At the time, I didn’t understand how much she was sacrificing. Her and my mum got me here. My whole family played a massive part in my life. Without them, you wouldn’t even know me.
"My mum sacrificed her life to get me here. My sister sacrificed her life to get me here."
The Euro 2020 hero is proud of his London roots and now a petition has been launched calling for Sterling to be given the Freedom of the borough of Brent where he grew up.
The Freedom of the Borough idea is the brainchild of Zaffar Van Kawala who is a former Brent councillor and a volunteer at Wembley Football - a community-led football project.
He is urging fans of the talented England player to add their signature to the petition.
Zaffar told The Mirror: "Raheem should definitely be given the freedom of the borough in Brent.
"He has done great work in standing up against discrimination and racism in our society and he has undoubtedly been England’s best player of Euro 2020.
"We should all be proud of our boy from Brent."
