A man fundraising on behalf of his baby son who tragically died, was amazed when a stranger approached him during a training walk up Mount Snowdon and donated £100.
Andy Rooke lost his son Charlie to the genetic condition Spinal Muscular Atrophy with Respiratory Distress (SMARD) in February of last year.
The neuromuscular disease typically diminishes a patient’s life expectancy to around 13 months, although Charlie managed to survive to the age of 17 months.
Since Charlie’s death, Andy, from Prenton, Wirral, has been tirelessly fundraising on behalf of Merseyside’s Claire House Children’s Hospice.
The hospice provided end-of-life care to Charlie in his last days, following critical care treatment at Alder Hey, the Liverpool Echo reported.
Andy is making regular trips to Mount Snowdon as a prelude to his major fundraising drive planned for next year - where he and his team intend to build three giant snowmen on the summits of Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon as part of the Three Peaks challenge.
This is in a heartbreaking tribute to Charlie's favourite film being the animated classic The Snowman.
Andy said it had been an “emotional” time.
“The Snowman is of great sentimental value,” he said. “I used to sit and watch it all the time with Charlie while he was in intensive care, and in his final hours.”
Andy, 37, is himself an active volunteer member of a mountain rescue team which covers a huge area of north-eastern Wales.
To get himself ready for next year’s challenge, he was doing training and fitness walks, wearing his fundraising T-shirt. People often came up to him to ask what it was for, he said prompting him to share Charlie’s story.
On this occasion Andy met a man while climbing Snowdon and he explained what he was up to. When he looked at his fundraising page later, he saw he'd been given £100 with this message: "We were the guys who met you on Snowdon. We think you are incredible. If you do a climb during the next school holidays let me know. Me and my son would love to join you."
Andy said he received “a lot of small donations” on his fundraising page, but £100 was the single biggest one he’d had.
"Often I don't remember each and every person I speak to, but when I saw the amount I wanted to get in touch with him to thank him,” he said.
"I managed to find him through the fundraising page and he said he and his son would love to join me on one of my climbs in the future."
Any had set a target of £25,00, which would all go to Claire House, to distribute however they wanted.
“We just want to help other poorly children,” he said.
Andy's fundraising page can be found here .
