A young Lanarkshire championship boxer is punching above his weight by helping people like his grandad in their fight against cancer.
Big-hearted Ryan Carlin, 21, is donating £500 from every fight in which he takes part to support cancer patients across the west of Scotland.
The former Taylor High School pupil is supporting Beatson Cancer Charity through his boxing to thank the charity for the care his grandad, Harry, has received at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre.
Six years ago, Ryan’s grandfather had high grade lymphoma and went through intensive chemotherapy.
The 78-year-old has now been diagnosed with low grade lymphoma, which is being monitored every three months as his body can no longer cope with chemotherapy.
Ryan began boxing at just 10 years of age after watching his older brother, also named Harry, who competed for a number of years as an amateur boxer.
Over the years, Ryan progressed to the Scottish National Elite Team and has boxed for Scotland all over the world.
He is the winner of three Western District titles, is a three-times Scottish ABA Champion and a one-time British ABA champion.
With limited boxing during the pandemic, Ryan decided to up his game and has been working with his coach, Dominic Vaughan, for the past two years, transitioning from amateur ranks to professional.
Ryan made his debut in November 2022 at the St Andrew’s Sporting Club after being out of the ring for 18 months, winning all four rounds in a 40-36 shut-out.
He had his second professional fight on March 23 at The Radisson Blu Hotel, Glasgow, where he secured a win.
His next professional fight will be on June 8 at the St Andrew’s Sporting Club Dinner Show at the Radisson Blu in Glasgow, against an opponent who is yet to be confirmed.
Ryan, of Motherwell, is now donating £500 from every fight in which he participates to Beatson Cancer Charity. He is also proudly wearing the charity’s logo on his kit in a bid to raise awareness of its work during his fights.
Said Ryan: “My dad has supported Beatson Cancer Charity for a number of years and has an annual charity golf day to try and raise as much money as he can for such a wonderful charity, so I wanted to try and do something myself to help.
“My granddad had cancer seven years ago and was cancer-free for a few years. However, it recently came back and we are dealing with that again now.
“He’s a massive boxing fan and has seen me boxing since I was a kid, so it was really special to have him at my professional debut and I know it made him proud. He’s not missed many of my amateur fights over the years and is a massive supporter of my career.
“Being a prize fighter now, it’s great that I get the chance to do a bit myself for Beatson Cancer Charity going forward.
“I sat down with my dad and said I wanted to give £500 from my fight purse and have their logos on my fight kit. This will hopefully raise awareness for the charity as I have no doubt everyone at the fights will have been affected either directly or indirectly by cancer.
“In this day and age, nobody should be going through cancer on their own, so any help they get is very much appreciated by the charity.”
Ryan’s dad, Mike Carlin, said: “As parents, my wife and I are so proud of Ryan for wanting to give money back to Beatson Cancer Charity. He’s watched his grandfather go through a lot and just wants to give back and help other families in similar circumstances. He is a fantastic young man.”
Morag Cunningham, director of fundraising at Beatson Cancer Charity, added: “We are so grateful to Ryan for choosing to support us through his professional boxing career.
“Ryan’s dad, Mike, has been an incredible supporter over the years, so it’s very kind of Ryan to also find a way to personally support our charity.
“All the funds donated by Ryan will go towards helping patients and their families across the west of Scotland as they go through treatment.”
It has always been Beatson Cancer Charity’s belief that no-one should face cancer on their own.
Some 14,172 patients have received therapies at the Wellbeing Centre Beatson Cancer Charity, which works in close partnership with clinicians and researchers at The Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre and The Beatson Institute for Cancer Research to help to deliver life-saving research.
The Beatson is an internationally-renowned cancer centre and the busiest in the UK in terms of clinical activity and patient numbers, as well as being the second largest cancer centre in the UK delivering all of the radiotherapy and much of the chemotherapy to the population of the west of Scotland, with a catchment area of 2.5 million people – around 60 per cent of Scotland’s population.
Each year, The Beatson sees more than 8,000 new patients and delivers more than 25,000 courses of chemotherapy and 6,500 courses of radiotherapy.
The Beatson is staffed by 950 highly skilled and dedicated healthcare professionals across a range of disciplines.
Find out more about Beatson Cancer Charity at: www.beatsoncancercharity.org
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