Terminally ill veteran, 23, watches epic England win at Twickenham after appeal goes viral
A 23-year-old Royal Navy veteran diagnosed with terminal cancer watched on from the stands with his dad as England beat Ireland in a classic at Twickenham, after an appeal from former SAS soldier Chris Ryan to get the tickets went viral.
Tobias Avery Brann served in the Navy for five years before he was diagnosed with cancer, and his father is still serving in the Navy.
After a mutual friend reached out to Mr Ryan, the appeal went viral and after England's Six Nations win against Ireland, the SAS soldier put out a tweet showing the Royal Navy veteran alongside matchwinner Marcus Smith.
"Photo of the year!" the post read.
"We all know RN Veteran Toby and let's be proud of the tiny part we played in putting that smile on his face as he poses for a photo with some random bloke."
Speaking to Forces News at the time of the original appeal, Mr Ryan said Tobias had "been dealt a bad hand in terms of he was misdiagnosed on numerous occasions".
"Sadly, his condition went past the point of being able to save him."
Tobias was given just 12 months to live.
"This will be his last winter and last summer," Mr Ryan said. "Now having met [the] young man, what surprised me was his love for his family, his concern for his family.
"He said he was pleased that it had happened to him and not his brother or mother or father and he's more concerned with how they're feeling.
"The reason he asked to go to the rugby match was for memories for his father… after he has passed.
"He's a selfless young man who is thinking about other people rather than himself."
Mr Ryan went on: "It's moving. I've been around a lot of people in situations where death occurs and this actually had a profound effect on me from an emotional side.
"He's a very brave young man and he's accepting and he knows what's happening, but he's more concerned for his loved ones."
Mr Ryan said he put a tweet out appealing to anyone who could help Tobias and his father get to Twickenham to watch England Rugby.
He said within "a couple of hours" former England rugby players Mike Tindall and Will Carling had contacted him saying they could get hold of tickets.
Then it was the turn of the official England Rugby account which said it would get tickets for the pair.
"This outpouring was, as I say, very overwhelming and just a great response because again, Twitter can be a very dark place… with a lot of negative comments and with this tweet, it was just full on, real help," Mr Ryan said.
"It was actually uplifting to see this happening.
"No matter what's going on in the world – there's quite a few negative things happening – this was positive."
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