A CONVOY with a difference arrived at Harefield Hospital on Saturday – with a donation of £1,000.
Two giant lorries pulled into the hospital grounds to honour Darryl McDougal, 51, of Bournemouth, who had been treated at Harefield but died before he could have a heart transplant.
His widow Kate and their daughter Kezzia, 9, led the convoy with Kate at the wheel of one of the lorries.
He had encouraged her to realise a long-held ambition to get an HGV licence and pledged to take her daughter to Harefield to present cash she had raised in his name.
The event was captured on film by Bournemouth University student Sacha Clayton, who encouraged Kate to continue her plans when everything seemed to be going against her.
Sacha, who is completing his film and TV production degree, said: “When I met Kate, she had this burning desire to do the drive but hadn't really progressed much with it.
“Together we spent hours planning and attempting to rally people. I needed to make my graduate film, but I also wanted to make it as special as possible as I could see how much it meant to her and Kezzia.
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“We struggled to get donations and nearly gave up when we had just £20 and the truck that Kate was meant to be driving cancelled on us at the last minute.”
Fortunately, a transport firm in Bournemouth, AET, offered to help. They had just bought a new Volvo lorry and offered use of that, as well as donating £90.
Despite snow forcing the first drive to be cancelled, AET sent another huge lorry to accompany them at the second attempt. There was a police and fire brigade escort out of their estate and a group of bikers who followed them for a short distance.
Sacha reported: “When we arrived at the hospital, we had £720 but were met by another trucker, who had a £100 cheque for Kate.
“As we were signing the big cardboard cheque on the front of the hospital stairs, a gentleman overheard and pulled out the cash to make it up to £1,000. He’d had open-heart surgery at the hospital and was more than happy to help.
“Kate told me it was beyond her expectations and had restored her faith in humanity.”
Kate’s page is on justgiving.com/crowdfunding/kate-mcdougal-1
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