An Angus family’s event to thank Ronald McDonald House in Glasgow is set to smash its £5,000 fundraising target.
Kerr Flanigan from Forfar was born with a failing heart and at just one week old was rushed to Ninewells and then Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Children in October.
His parents Ian and Sharon were unprepared for the “worst time of their lives” but were given a free home at Ronald McDonald House for a month as Kerr recovered.
In an effort to repay the kindness they received and in a bid to help other families, Ian and Sharon took part in an abseil from the Forth Rail Bridge on Sunday with other members of “Team Kerr” – Sharon’s brother Ewan Phillip, his wife Claire, Barry and Francinne Carnegie, Ashleigh Fairweather, Emma Donaldson, Cara Henderson, Billy Gray, and Aaron Bruce.
A general fundraising total of £3,200 was added to a £1,000 donation from a Funbox show in Forfar in April, with individual totals still to be added.
Kerr was transferred to Glasgow in a special neonatal ambulance after becoming ill when he was only days old.
Mrs Flanigan said: “It was absolutely horrendous.
“He went downhill so rapidly.
“When we went to Glasgow we didn’t have any idea that Ronald McDonald House existed. We didn’t think about where we would stay when we went down but they organised everything for us.
“We were there for two weeks initially but when we got Kerr home, two weeks later he had to return to intensive care due to bronchiolitis. We spent almost a month in total at Ronald McDonald House.
“Kerr is doing brilliantly now, you would never know.”