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HEALTH-VIRUS-CHARITY
99-year-old war veteran raises œ1.5m for UK health workers
LONDON, April 14, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – A 99-year-old British World War II
veteran on Tuesday had raised over œ1.5 million ($1.9 million) for
health workers on the coronavirus front-line, crashing the donation
website hosting his appeal.
Tom Moore, a captain who served in India, is being sponsored to
complete 100 lengths of his 25-metre garden, with the aid of a frame,
in time for his 100th birthday at the end of the month.
He originally planned to raise œ1,000 for a National Health Service
charity after receiving treatment for a broken hip and cancer.
But he has now smashed the million marks and completed 70 laps of
his garden in Bedfordshire, south England.
“It’s marvellous for our doctors and nurses on the front line,” he
said of the money raised.
“In the last war it was soldiers in uniform on the front line. This
time our army are the doctors and nurses (in) uniforms,” he told ITV’s
Good Morning Britain television show.
“We will survive this.”
More than 70,000 people have contributed funds, with the rate of
donations causing the JustGiving page to temporarily crash.
BSS/AFP/MRU/1731hrs