A collective of Scottish creatives have collaborated to launch a charity calendar to raise money for a young boy who suffers from a very rare form of cancer.

Zander Heneghan is an eight year-old boy from Brora, a small village in the Scottish Highlands. In March 2010, he was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare and serious form of cancer. A course of chemotherapy and radiotherapy followed, throughout which Zander showed tremendous courage and spirit.

However he now faces a long and intensive period of treatment which involves a 10-hour round trip to Glasgow every week.

Designer Paul Gray at Glasgow-based Suisse was asked by photographer and indigenous Brora man Craig Mackay to get involved in the project to produce a calendar to raise funds and awareness of Zander's cause and the condition itself.

Also joining the team behind "Zander Calendar" are writer Audrey Mason;  social media strategy through Rob Innes at Wyoming-Interactive; press strategy through James Doherty, media manager at Glasgow Life (Culture & Sport); and digital by Rob Campbell at Loaf-Design in Peterhead.   

Gray said: "Zander's treatment regime would flatten a man let alone an 8 year old boy. Anyway, he's doing it and winning but there's loads still to go through. His mum and dad have to drive from Brora to Glasgow every week for intensive and intrusive treatment. That's a 10-hour round trip. Just this week they've been told this will continue for the next 44 weeks. A daunting prospect. There is no financial support. They just need to make it happen. So money is a big worry for them which, we know, only compacts the strain. The calendar will be sold to raise funds to support them in this horrific battle and go back into research. Only 60 kids a year get diagnosed in the UK so it's rare and clearly there's a lot of research to be done."

The project has the patronage of Tricia Stewart, the original Calendar Girl and it was her idea to do the first W. I. calendar (Helen Mirren plays her in the film).

The Alternative WI Calendar was launched in April 1999 and has gone onto to become a global phenomenon, inspiring the film and stage show ‘Calendar Girls’. More than ten years after the first iconic ‘nude’ calendar, almost £3 million has been raised for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.

Many other fundraising groups around the globe have replicated the calendar idea. The Zander Calendar is yet another example of a small group of people coming together for a greater purpose. The friendship and support which has inspired this calendar will ensure its success.

The production and print of the calendar is now finished and a dedicated website and Facebook page (it's gone from zero to 520 'likes' in 36 hours) has been established.

http://www.zandercalendar.com