THE Post previously reported on Luke Hanson, from Launceston, and his dream to see his favourite band play live — sounds like a normal request, but for Luke it posed several difficulties.

Luke, 18, is possibly the world’s biggest fan of A7X, aka Avenged Sevenfold, and has always dreamt of seeing them play live. However, his disabilities have held him back in the past from attempting such a venture.

Luke has autism and Cohen’s syndrome, along with night blindness, thyroid problems, a heart defect and a poor immune system. Yet, despite all this, Luke was determined he would one day see his favourite band play live, and, on January 19, that is exactly what he did.

Carl Gray, the partner of Luke’s mother Amanda Bromfield, is a friend and supporter of ‘Given to Live’, an organisation who strive to take those who are disadvantaged or have a disability to see their favourite bands perform and give them a day to remember.

It was after Carl got in contact with the organisation’s founder, Tom Pugh, that the wheels were set in motion and a lot of ‘behind the scenes’ planning got underway to make Luke’s dream a reality.

One person who got involved was ‘Papa Gates’, also know as Brian Haner the American musician, comedian and author — also the father of A7X guitarist ‘Synyster’. He reached out to the band to help Luke get his dream and as a result the band agreed to hold a VIP meet — unbeknownst to Luke at the time.

Although plans for the day were put together by August 2016, Luke wasn’t told about his ‘big day’ until one month before the set off date. It was decided this would be best for Luke as he finds the concept of date and time quite challenging.

Given to Live also had a specially designed calendar commissioned for Luke to help him better visualise when he would get to see A7X live. So, after a month of counting down to ‘A7X day’ — also known as January 19 — Luke made his way up to Cardiff to see the American heavy metal band play live.

Speaking about the day and how he felt Luke said: “I had the most amazing time, I was mind blown and it was a dream come true.”

Whilst A7X performed Luke was mesmerised and didn’t take his eyes off the stage for a second.

During the concert band member M Shadows spoke about the late Jimmy Sullivan, known to A7X fans as ‘the Rev’. This struck a cord with Luke as the Rev’s death had affected him deeply back in 2009. Luke grieved for a long time over his passing, battling hard with his depression causing his family to become quite worried.

However, Luke seemed to find his own peace with the situation whilst M Shadow was speaking about the late great man — it gave Luke the opportunity to see that although he was gone he was certainly not forgotten.

Tom, founder of Given to Live, got to know Luke well in the months before the concert and said he saw a notable difference in him after the event. He said: “It was fantastic to see Luke on the day; he walked, he even talked differently — you could see he genuinely had a lot more confidence.

“The two and a half hour journey went very well and we managed to arrive there just before twelve. Throughout the day I think we took almost 1,000 photographs, which I am planning to go through soon with Luke. It was great to get to spend the day together with Luke and his mum. I think that Luke’s hopes for the day were far exceeded and it was very humbling to see how much joy it brought him.”

Thanks to Given to Live and the support of his family, Luke was able to see A7X play live — but there was an added surprise in store on the day for Luke.

He was, to put it mildly, very excited to learn that he would not only get the chance to see A7X perform but he had also been invited backstage to meet the band in person.

Tom said: “To say Luke had a great time would be slightly underplaying it. It really was a life changing experience for him. A7X were so amazing with Luke, they treated him with the upmost respect and genuine warmth.

“Luke was delighted that he got to meet the band. He was given time to talk to them and got everything he wanted signed — he now has a lot more merchandise to add to his collection.”

Luke’s mother, Amanda, shares her son’s passion for A7X and was delighted when she found out she would get the chance to take her son to see his favourite band. She said: “It was and is the most amazing thing to ever have happened. I always dreamt of taking Luke to see Avenged Sevenfold play but to actually meet them is just way beyond anything I could have managed myself without the help of Tom at Given to Live.

“I also have my partner, Carl Gray, to thank for all this as if he hadn’t of approached Tom this would never have happened.

“Luke is still overwhelmed about meeting them and has told me it will be in his head forever.”

Given to Live shared every step of Luke’s journey on their Facebook page and as a result Luke has gained quite a following.

Speaking about Luke and his new ‘fans’, Tom said: “The piece we put on our Facebook page got over 200 likes with people from over twenty odd countries commenting. To show our thanks to all those who supported Luke on his journey we have set up a prize draw for those who commented and wished Luke well.”

There were many supportive comments on the Given to Live Facebook page, with people from across the world following Luke’s journey from start to finish. Well-wishers from Mexico to Thailand and beyond posted messages like ‘This is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen!’ and ‘Keep on fighting Luke, you’re a true hero!’

Tom said: “There were some incredibly profound and wonderful messages from the public for Luke. I went through some of them with him and it not only gave him more confidence, it gave mum more confidence to know that there are genuinely good people out there who only wish the best for Luke.

“Mum has now opened a Facebook page for Luke so he can keep up with all the new friends he made along the way. Mum was always a bit scared to allow Luke to have Facebook, but after seeing all the positive and supportive comments it has given her the confidence that people are genuinely in support of Luke. I have to say, Luke will be surprised at just how many friend requests he has received!”

All the positive comments that Luke received led Amanda to set him up his own Facebook page for the first time, she said: “I have set up a Facebook account for Luke as he is getting well wishes and support from likewise fans from all over the world and I felt it was only fair that he should be able to see this for himself.”

As the Post went to press Luke had been staying with family and was not aware of how many friend requests his new Facebook page had received. Tom said: “Luke will be very surprised at how many people his story has touched. It doesn’t do it justice to say Luke received ‘a bit’ of attention on Facebook from people wanting to wish him well. People from across the world, who had followed Luke’s story, said his story touched their personal lives as they have experience the same thing.”

The support Luke received was ‘inspiring’ and to help him visualise further how many people his story reached out too Tom is looking to produce a map, documenting every person who wished Luke well on his journey to see A7X.

Tom added: “I was talking with a friend about how many people had commented on Facebook and we decided to do one last thing for Luke.

“I will go up to Exeter with a big map and me and the team will sit down and go through, placing a pin on every country and area for each person who commented in correspondence with where they are from — this will give Luke an idea of how far his story reached and how many people were supporting him. It will let him see where everyone is, where all his new friends are.”

To say thank you for all the work put in to organising Luke’s ‘A7X day’, Amanda now wants to give back to Given to Live.

She has set up a JustGiving page and hopes to raise funds to donate to the organisation, to help others like Luke get their ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ day to see their favourite band live.

Amanda said: “I have set up a JustGiving page to help raise funds for Given to Live to help make other disadvantaged individuals’ dreams come true.

“If anyone would care to give just a little it would be much appreciated. If everyone could see what this has done to Luke and the confidence it has given him they would they would see what such a difference a small gesture can make.”