Irish Sunday Mirror

TATT’S GOTTA HURT

Celtic fan gets a Rangers tattoo to raise charity funds

- BY SIMON GREEN, LAUREN DAVIDSON news@irishmirro­r.ie

AN Irish Celtic fan fighting terminal brain cancer has been inked with a tattoo of his team’s rivals Rangers in a bid to break a fundraisin­g record.

Iain Ward, 32, from Dublin, took part in a drugs trial in September 2019 during which doctors told him he had a tumour.

They discovered a growth they thought was benign – but it turned out to be incurable cancer.

But instead of letting the devastatin­g news get him down, the inspiratio­nal fitness instructor and stand-up comic has dedicated his life to raising money and awareness.

Part of his fundraisin­g involves taking part in tattoo raffles where whoever donates gets the chance to choose a tattoo for him.

Last month, Iain got Glasgow Rangers WATP inked on his leg after Danny Geddes, 58, from Kirkcaldy won the raffle.

I didn’t know what it meant but I knew it was a club chant IAIN WARD ON HIS NEW RANGERS FC INKING

LOTTERY

Iain explained: “I said if you donate you are in with a lottery chance of winning a tattoo and with each entry they can put a different request per message.

“A Scottish guy won. I said, ‘What do you want?’ He said, ‘Seeing how you are from the Republic of Ireland... how would you feel about a Rangers FC tat?’ My response was, ‘Absolutely – let’s do it’.

“I got the ‘Rangers WATP’ one four

weeks ago. I didn’t know what it meant but I knew it was a club chant.” He added: “I think it is funny. I hate pity – I much prefer if someone takes the piss out of me. And I think people in Ireland would find it just as funny – nations are huge rivals in sports but in reality get on fine.

“I’ve also got a Father Ted reference ‘feck arse drink girls’ from an Irish guy as well as a Pokemon one.”

Danny – a Hibs fan – told how he came across Iain’s ‘Tattoo Tuesday’ challenge on Tiktok.

He said: “Cancer affects everybody so I wanted to support him and I decided that I was going to put in a little bit of money for him.

“The tattoo was originally supposed to be ‘I love Glasgow Rangers’ but he said that had too many characters.

“I went back and said it should be ‘Glasgow Rangers WATP [We Are The People]’. It was just a teasing thing as obviously he is from the Republic of Ireland. It’s a fun thing to put on there and he doesn’t take it too seriously.”

Iain, who has also created his own website Cure Cancer or Die Trying to document his journey, said: “I won’t stop until I reach my goal – there’s a lot of room on a leg. It might take a year to get 100,000 followers on Tiktok.

“I hope as the channel grows donations will ramp up so I don’t have to get like 6,000 tattoos to reach my target.”

 ??  ?? INK-REDIBLE Rangers tatt on Iain’s leg
BATTLE Iain in hospital
INK-REDIBLE Rangers tatt on Iain’s leg BATTLE Iain in hospital
 ??  ?? CHALLENGE Iain Ward ran raffle to choose the tattoo
CHALLENGE Iain Ward ran raffle to choose the tattoo

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Ireland