Jude Bolton will wear green shoelaces in Sunday’s clash against the West Coast Eagles in support of his young friend, Kalin Foley, who has been battling a rare form of sarcoma.

Bolton met Foley a year ago, when the Sydney Swans travelled to Perth to take on the Eagles, shortly after Kalin was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma.

When diagnosed, Kalin was told he had a 20 per cent chance of survival.

“The opportunity came to meet him over at training last year and it was just great to spend a little bit of time with him and introduce him to a few of the other boys and hear about what he was going through,” Bolton told sydneyswans.com.au.

“At that stage he was given little chance of living and was suffering from a rare form of sarcoma, so it was really tough.

“I was really humbled to think that he loved the Swans so much.”

Bolton was inspired by Kalin’s fight and formed an instant bond with the teenager, and even kept a photo of Kalin in his locker throughout the season.

The pair were reunited at the 2012 Grand Final in Melbourne, after the Swans were able to find last-minute tickets to the game for Kalin and his family.

“It was great to see him after the Grand Final and know that he got across to the game and we got to share a moment after the game,” Bolton said.

“We as footballers are pretty blessed in what we do and we get to go out and play a game that we love, so it was just so special to be able to share that with someone as inspirational and courageous as Kalin.”

This weekend, Bolton and the Swans will get the chance to see Kalin again, as he runs out with the team as the junior mascot for the day. On Wednesday, Kalin was given the all clear by his doctor and is now on the road to recovery after 54 weeks of chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

Kalin will still need monitoring every three months, however his doctor said it was a one in 100 result to be where he is today.

At Kalin’srequest, Bolton agreed to wear green shoelaces in this weekend’s match as part of the ‘Kick Sarcoma’ campaign, which aims to raise awareness and advocate for improved research and funding for the illness.

“I’m looking forward to seeing him this week and I’m actually going to be wearing green laces just for an awareness campaign which is ‘Kick Sarcoma’,” Bolton said.

“The way he’s fought this sarcoma has been unbelievable and it’s just so amazing to hear that he has beaten it, hopefully forever.

“Sarcoma accounts for 20 per cent of childhood cancers, so early on kids sometimes get diagnosed after an injury that won’t heal, because the cancer is in the connective tissues.

“Certainly that’s the way Kalin found out he had it after he had a sports injury that wouldn’t heal.”

Bolton said he felt it was important to do his bit to help Kalin and other young people who are affected by the illness.

“Even just being a father now, you would just hate to see your own child or someone else’s child go through what Kalin has gone through,” he said.

“The way he has fought has been unbelievable so to do just a simple thing like wear a pair of green shoelaces, hopefully it just raises awareness as well as funding for research.”

Click here for full details on the Kick Sarcoma Foundation and how to order green shoelaces of your own.