A teenager who signed up to take part in a charity football tournament for a boy who died from leukaemia had to pull out of the event after himself being diagnosed with cancer.

Charlie Taylor was looking forward to being part of the annual Harrison Staines memorial event at the UKP sports ground in Gore Court Road in Sittingbourne on Saturday.

But two months ago, the 15-year-old got the devastating news he had Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which attacks the immune system and has left him needing chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

The Westlands School pupil is too ill to play in the tournament so his dad and stepmum helped him set up a fundraiser for Macmillan Cancer Support that will be staged straight after the Park Regis Youth Football Club annual Harrison Staines Memorial 7-a-side Tournament.

Thirty-six teams, featuring players aged from seven to 16, will take part in the main event, starting at 9.15am.

It is held in memory of eight-year-old Harrison, who died from leukaemia in 2001, by his former club to raise money to help fight the disease.

The tournament finishes at about 3pm and afterwards there will be another football match in fancy dress, organised by
Charlie, with all the proceeds going to charity.

He and his family will then move on to the White Horse pub, in Charlotte Street, where there will be a free barbecue, where donations will be gratefully received, and a raffle organised by landlords Debbie and Simon, who have been “very helpful” to the family.

Charlie, from Milton Regis, has played for Park Regis for 11 years and also has a talent for boxing, having competed in places such as Finland and Sweden for Swale Gloves.

The youngster, who normally spends six days a week playing sport, has had to stop since beginning chemotherapy, which step-mum Nicola Charlton said has “knocked him for 10”.

She said: “He has been in intensive care twice, and has had up and down days. This fundraiser was his idea as he wanted to give something back to the nurses and staff from Macmillan who have really helped him.”

Another passion of Charlie’s is fishing, and he recently caught a 59lb fish while on holiday in France, and his family will be wearing T-shirts bearing an image of his catch on Saturday.

The football tournament is raising money for CLIC Sargent, the UK’s leading cancer charity for children and young people.