Jarrad Branthwaite has taken time out from England training to send a message of support to a Cumbrian teenager fighting cancer.

The former Carlisle United defender sent a video message from St George’s Park to Jack Musgrave, who is battling Hogkin Lymphoma.

Branthwaite used the message (watch below) to wish 15-year-old Jack well ahead of his final round of chemotherapy next week.

The 21-year-old star from Wigton, who is in the England squad for the first time for games against Brazil and Belgium, sent the message after his former Blues team-mate Taylor Charters had passed on the phone number of Jack’s mum Linda to Branthwaite.

“Hi Jack, it’s Jarrad Branthwaite here – just sending you a quick message to wish you all the best in the final stages of your chemo next week,” the defender says in his video message.

“Hopefully we’ll see you soon out on the football pitch.

“All the best and stay strong.”

Linda surprised Jack by playing him the video after the Penrith teenager had finished a training session with his junior football club, Calthwaite, on Wednesday evening.

The football-mad teenager, who is a big Carlisle fan, has been battling cancer since last October.

His condition has brought supportive gestures from the Blues and many other sources, while Jack’s friends have raised funds to support their pal and his family during his months of treatment at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary.

Jack’s final chemo session is next Tuesday and then on April 12 he will have a positron emission tomography (PET) scan which it is hoped will confirm the cancer has gone.

Mum Linda said the family have received a voucher from Laura and Lee at Greenwheat Flowers in Penrith for a meal in Newcastle to celebrate the end of his chemo next week.

Branthwaite, who came through Carlisle’s academy before joining Everton, is hoping to make his England debut in the coming days, with the Brazil friendly on Saturday and the Belgium game on Tuesday, both at Wembley.