Terminally ill veteran, 23, meets England match-winner after Chris Ryan ticket appeal
A terminally ill Royal Navy veteran, who got tickets to watch England vs Ireland at Twickenham thanks to a viral appeal from former SAS soldier Chris Ryan, managed to meet match-winner Marcus Smith after the game.
Tobias Avery Brann, 23, served for five years before he was diagnosed with cancer, and his father is still serving in the Navy.
The young sailor wanted to watch England play rugby at Twickenham with his father, and after a mutual friend reached out to Mr Ryan the appeal went viral.
And the pair were in the stands to watch England's spic Six Nations win against Ireland, with the former SAS soldier put out a tweet showing the Royal Navy veteran alongside Marcus Smith.
"Photo of the year!" Chris Ryan's 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. ?"
The appeal was also picked up by England rugby legend Mike Tindall, who replied to Mr Ryan's tweet by saying: "This is awesome to see!!"
Chris Ryan told Forces News that while he wasn't at the game, he checked in with Tobias throughout the day.
"For his dreadful condition, he was in really high spirits," he said.
"I spoke with Toby as soon as it finished and... he was actually next to Marcus Smith, [who] came over to say hello to him.
"He was just overwhelmed and overjoyed.
"He's such a strong character for the position that he's been placed in, he's just steadfast in his spirit.
"He is worrying about his family. He's more concerned about them than himself. He's just a great man.
"He sent me the picture of him with Marcus and it was it was actually overwhelming, to tell you the truth."
Speaking at the time of the appeal for tickets, Mr Ryan told Forces News 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," he said.
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."
He added: "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.
"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.
Mr Ryan also made an appeal for anybody who wanted to help Tobias, asking them to get in touch via his X account, which is @ChrisRyanMM.
"We'll see if we can do a bit more for the young man," he said.
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