Coronavirus: Father of young leukaemia victim smashes his PPE donation target

David Watson has raised the cash as part of an online campaign to purchase the anti-coronavirus gear for workers at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, where his son Adam was treated.

He had initially set himself a target of raising a few hundred pounds. But at time of writing yesterday he had garnered about £20,800 from more than 1,200 donors.

Banbridge man Mr Watson, a 36-year-old deliveryman for a firm which supplies PPE equipment, told the News Letter: “It’s gone out of all control. It’s certainly exceeded any expectations we had.”

He has added an entertaining twist to the donations by challenging people to shave their own heads, and to then donate the £10 which they would otherwise have spent at a barber’s shop towards his fundraising pot.

He posted a video of his son Adam shaving his head on Facebook. For those who keep their hair, he calls for a “fine” to be levied of £20.

However, many donors have given far beyond the suggested amounts, with some providing £100 donations.

“I said to the wife, if we could just find six or seven hundred pounds, we’d be flying,” he said.

“Originally I’d gone on to Amazon to look at buying masks... Then the next time we’re down with Adam we can drop them in.

“And within an hour, it was sitting at over £900.”

He is now planning to do a bank transfer of the money directly to The Children’s Cancer Unit Charity, which exists to support the paediatric cancer and haematology work at the Royal.

Explaining the background to his fundraising effort, Mr Watson said his son – now aged seven – had been taken to see a doctor last October with a sore throat.

When his condition deteriorated, Mr and Mrs Watson took him to Daisy Hill hospital in Newry and were told a chest X-Ray had uncovered signs of pneumonia.

When blood tests came back a doctor informed them there was something “sinister” in the results – and that something ultimately turned out to be leukaemia.

Mr Watson’s response was to punch the wall again and again, recalling: “The consultant rubbed my back and just said: ‘Right son, let it out’.”

Adam was treated with chemotherapy and is now in remission, but they must wait five years before he is given the all-clear.

Mr Watson said the charitable donation will be a fitting tribute to the Royal’s medical workers, saying: “I don’t know what a nurse’s salary is, but if you doubled it, it still wouldn’t be anywhere close to what they deserve. Every one has so much time for you, nothing’s ever a problem.

“They couldn’t do any more for you.”

The crowdfunding page is at this link: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/head-shave-423

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