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Twenty former star international and leading rugby players from the UK will be travelling to Bahrain this weekend to play a charity game as a way of saying thank you to a cancer charity helping a St Christopher's School pupil fighting a courageous battle against the disease.
Persia Honar, 14, complained of a persistent backache and on investigation at the International Hospital of Bahrain was found to be suffering from a rare bone cancer. She is currently with her mother undergoing treatment at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh.
Dad Mehdi Honar, vice-chairman of the Bahrain Rugby Football Club in Saar and organiser of the charity spectacular, said: "This is my way of saying thank you to the Teenage Cancer Trust that has helped my daughter. The charity is aiming to raise £1.6 million (BD 928,886) in order to build specialist units in hospitals dedicated to teenagers suffering from cancer needing specialist support."
The squad of rugby players flying over includes former Ireland lock Paddy Johns who won 59 caps, led Ireland on their summer tour to South Africa in 1998 and captained his country on 10 occasions and fellow internationals David Corkery and Maurice Fields.
Former England U-21 international and Wasps ace Joe Beardshaw will also be joining the fray alongside ex-Scotland hero Cameron Mather to name but a few.
The charity event will kick off with a dinner tomorrow evening organised at the rugby club followed by a match on Saturday afternoon where the visiting players will play against a Bahrain Legends side in a friendly match, kicking off at 4.15pm.
The Bahrain Legends team will feature some of the greatest players to have worn the Bahrain jersey in recent, and in some cases, the not so recent, past.
Combining the guile and hard-earned experience of the likes of club stalwarts Steve Harrison, Gary Adriaan and Bryan Winning with the pace and skill of a backline including Chris Matthews and Shaun MacPherson, the Bahrain outfit will be out to welcome the visitors with a bang.
Persia was diagnosed last year with Ewing's Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer that usually occurs in teenagers and young adults.
"After a series of surgeries, chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions spanning an entire year, Persia will, after her final operation, come back home to Bahrain in the summer. Being an avid rugby player myself I wanted to help the charity with their fundraising efforts in whatever way I could," said the engineering consultant who comes from Iran and is married to Vicky, a Scot. They also have a son, Sohrab, 16, who also attends the Isa Town-based school.
Money raised from the initiative will go to the Teenage Cancer Trust, a charity devoted to improving the lives of teenagers and young adults with cancer.
It funds and builds specialist units for young people in National Health Service (NHS) hospitals. The charity believes that teenagers should not stop being teenagers just because they have cancer and these units bring young cancer sufferers together so that they can find new friends and support each other.
Apart from providing support and clinical care the charity focuses on medical research and education to give teenagers the best chance of a positive outcome following treatment.
