02:56Beyond the heart, Bayern fan carries his club in his eye. Literally!
More than just a fan, American ex-navy officer Ryan Gibson from York, South Carolina, is something of a fanatic.
A supporter of the FC Munich Bayern football team, he has a prosthetic eye featuring a hand drawn logo that draws attention, especially at his team’s matches, as shown in footage from Saturday in Charlotte, North Carolina.
He grew up in a family of Bayern Munich fans. His father was born in Germany to a U.S. serviceman and for Gibson, football is more than just a game, it’s a way to help him around life’s obstacles.
"It's when you get into dark places, with anxiety, depression, car wrecks, cancers, and we don’t have anywhere else to look, some people don’t have anybody to turn to, it’s the teams, the players, the sport, the moments that we can refer back to of players never giving up, teams never giving up," he said during Bayern’s 5-0 win against Borussia Dortmund.
Gibson lost his right eye to ocular melanoma, a rare form of cancer, and had it replaced with the “Bayern eye”. He wanted to go with something that had a ‘wow factor’ and he says his glass eye has become a good way to start conversations about ocular melanoma and his favourite football club.
02:56More than just a fan, American ex-navy officer Ryan Gibson from York, South Carolina, is something of a fanatic.
A supporter of the FC Munich Bayern football team, he has a prosthetic eye featuring a hand drawn logo that draws attention, especially at his team’s matches, as shown in footage from Saturday in Charlotte, North Carolina.
He grew up in a family of Bayern Munich fans. His father was born in Germany to a U.S. serviceman and for Gibson, football is more than just a game, it’s a way to help him around life’s obstacles.
"It's when you get into dark places, with anxiety, depression, car wrecks, cancers, and we don’t have anywhere else to look, some people don’t have anybody to turn to, it’s the teams, the players, the sport, the moments that we can refer back to of players never giving up, teams never giving up," he said during Bayern’s 5-0 win against Borussia Dortmund.
Gibson lost his right eye to ocular melanoma, a rare form of cancer, and had it replaced with the “Bayern eye”. He wanted to go with something that had a ‘wow factor’ and he says his glass eye has become a good way to start conversations about ocular melanoma and his favourite football club.