Green Day pay tribute to late fan

Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt has paid tribute to a teenage fan who lost his battle with cancer on Sunday (18Nov12).

Kaelem Hainsworth of Dublin, Ireland was just 17 when he died and his family and friends subsequently launched a campaign online to land a special video message from the American Idiot hitmakers themselves to play at the youngster's funeral service later this week (22Nov12).

Word of Hainsworth's passing reached Dirnt on Tuesday (20Nov12) and he took to the band's official website to share the upsetting news with other devotees.

A message posted online reads: "It is with great sadness that I have to inform you that Kaelem Hainsworth, a Green Day fan in Dublin passed away suddenly at the young age of 17, and we want to send our deepest condolences to Kaelem's family and friends.

"His funeral is this Thursday, which falls on Thanksgiving in the United States, and hearing sad news around the holidays always makes it more upsetting. Kaelem you will forever be missed."

Hainsworth's pals expressed their thanks to Dirnt in the comments section of the blog post, but they are still holding out hope that Green Day will film a brief video for the service.

One friend, using the handle Liam173, writes, "Thank you so much, you don't realize how much this means to all of Kaelem's friends and family. Goes to show how something so simple as a short message goes such a long way, I know it may seem rude asking after you already leaving this message but a short video message would mean the world to all of us and Kaelem, our gratitude would be unfathomable. Thank You... R.I.P Kaelem".