Charity News
Gordon ’ s special birthday wish
It ’ s 26 years since Gordon Wight and his family were helped by the Make a Wish Foundation – but they have never stopped being grateful for it .
And this year , on his 52nd birthday , Gordon will be ‘ paying back ’ the favour by running in the London Marathon to raise funds for the charity that makes dreams come true for youngsters with life-threatening illnesses . Gordon , now Operations and Safety Manager at Bembridge Harbour , was serving with the Army in Germany when he and his wife Lee-Anne had their first child , Michael in 1989 . At just nine weeks old , their little boy was diagnosed with the rare immune disorder CSID , and given just two weeks to live . After such a shocking diagnosis , his life was ultimately saved by a pioneering bone marrow transplant from mum Lee-Anne , which restored partial function to his immune system . Two years later , Michael was fit enough to travel , and that was when Make a Wish sent the family on a memorable holiday to Disneyland , where the delighted toddler came face-to-face with his favourite character , Mickey Mouse . Now 28 year-old Michael is , in the words of his proud dad , “ a very fine young man – you won ’ t find a man anywhere with a bigger heart than he has ”. Michael moved to the Island with the family four years ago , and works for Tesco , the company he ’ s been with since he was 17 . Dad Gordon says he was inspired to take on the marathon challenge after his daughter Sasha , Michael ’ s sister , completed it in 2016 , also for Make a Wish . “ I went along to support her last year and when I realised that this year ’ s Marathon would be on my birthday , I thought ‘ Right , now ’ s the time – I ’ m going to do it , as my own thank you .” He ’ s been in training ever since , and as well as the thousands of pounds worth of donations that have been pledged on his Just Giving page ( over £ 4,300 by early April ), Gordon was also presented with a very generous £ 5,000 donation to Make a Wish by
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