A SCHOOLBOY who wrote a song in memory of a terminally ill girl will donate the proceeds to charity.

Ryan Lawrie, 16, wrote 'You're Free' after being contacted two months ago on Facebook by a young girl suffering from a brain tumour.

Since then he has seen the song climb to No 39 in the iTunes download charts and he has decided to donate the money he has made from selling the track to Yorkhill Children's Foundation.

The girl, who he believed was about his age, told him she was a big fan of his music and asked him to write a song for her.

Ryan, a pupil at Coatbridge High School, was sitting his preliminary exams at the time, wrote back and promised to write something in the next couple of weeks.

But, next time he tried to contact her he found out that she had died.

Determined to honour his promise, Ryan sat down and wrote the song, imagining how her family must be feeling at having lost her.

He said: "It is about being free from the pain that you had when you were alive.

"With her situation, going through a terminal illness, it is about being free from that. She's in a better place and happy again."

Last week Ryan uploaded the song to iTunes and the track rocketed to No 39 in the download charts.

He also put the song on YouTube, where more than 127,000 people have viewed it.

The number of people following him on Facebook also soared from 4000 to 49,000.

Ryan said he was amazed by the response to the song.

He said: "It is crazy, I didn't think I would get into the top 100, never mind the top 40."

Now Ryan has decided to donate the money he has made from the song, which is on sale for 79p, to the children's hospital where his cousin was treated for leukemia when she was younger.

He said: "I have never really experienced a death in my family so I have never been hurt by it.

"I want to give the money to Yorkhill. My cousin was diagnosed with leukemia when she was young and she was in that hospital. The patients there are young children and they deserve the best chance of life.

"It will be brilliant to hand over the cheque and see their faces."

Janie O'Neill, head teacher at Coatbridge High, said: "Ryan is a very talented young man and the fact that he is using his talent for such a worthwhile cause is commendable."

matty.sutton@ eveningtimes.co.uk