Derek Russell is still wearing his specially-made Justin Bieber T-shirt that reads “Justin Bieber is my homie.” It was made for him by classmates to wear to Bieber’s extravaganza at Rogers Arena in Vancouver on Wednesday, October 10.
Derek, who is 14 years old, has both Down’s syndrome and congenital heart disease. He was able to meet his singing idol Bieber after an intense social media campaign started by his stepsister Paige Metzner.
“I honestly didn’t understand the power of social media and now I do,” said his mother, Allison Metzner. She said that while she wasn’t at all confident the campaign would work, she knew that either way her son would have a great time at the concert.
Although Bieber did not respond to the Twitter campaign that was waged on the hashtag #DerekVanOct10 or the overwhelming response on Facebook, in the end it was Allison’s cousin Tyler Mervyn who lives in Dubai who made the meet and greet possible.
“You have to understand I did not ask him,” said Allison. “I don’t want people to think that after all of this I had this in my back pocket or I went and asked him.”
Mervyn’s mother and sister phoned him and asked him to help out when they saw the Facebook page that Paige had set up, she said. Mervyn is the Managing Director for Live Nation UAE, an international concert promotions company. He moved to Dubai two years ago after being promoted from his position in Vancouver.
“As soon as I heard Tyler’s voice I knew,” Allison said.
Derek and his mother showed up to the concert in style. After reading about Derek in The Province newspaper, Ryan Hoy, owner of Pink Limousine Services, offered to drive him and Allison to the show in his black stretch SUV limo.
Hoy drove out to Coquitlam to pick the two up and then shuttled them to Rogers Arena, which, according to Allison, was a big bonus because with Derek’s heart condition, he doesn’t have a lot of stamina so they have to limit the amount of walking they do.
“We came around the corner from Rogers Arena and everyone’s staring at this big black stretched SUV and there’s this big scream because they thought it was someone famous,” she said. “Derek jumps out of the limo and yells ‘Justin Bieber yeah!’”
Before the concert began Derek lined up with other Beliebers to get his photo taken with the pop idol. He said hello to Bieber and shook his hand.
“The concert was great,” Allison said. “Derek stood there with this look of total joy and awe the whole time.”
Allison hopes this brush with greatness will help carry her son through the next few difficult weeks. Derek is scheduled to go in to BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver on October 29 for a heart catheterization where doctors will push a tiny camera attached to a catheter into his heart to examine his failing heart valves.
