Let's Back Zac: Family 'speechless' as donations continue to flood in for brave Broseley four-year-old
Donations have continued to flood in to the 'Wear Red for Zac' campaign as businesses, schools, and people across the county get behind the bid to raise £500,000.
A host of events are being planned as part of the fundraising efforts, and amid a wave of generous donations, one person has even handed over £10,000.
Listed on the Just Giving page the donation has come from Roman Petrenko.
The money is needed to give four-year-old Zac Oliver from Broseley a chance at survival.
The youngster is suffering from a rare form of leukaemia and treatment is unavailable on the NHS.
His family have launched a campaign to raise £500,000 to get him to Philadelphia where he can undergo CAR-T therapy.
Yesterday it was revealed that the total raised and pledged so far had leapt from £81,000 to around £130,000 in a matter of days.
Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler also gave his backing to the efforts by donating to the cause.
Zac's father Mark Garbett said they had been overwhelmed at the level of support from the public.
How YOU can help
Anyone who wants to support the fundraising campaign should visit justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zac-oliver
Anyone donating is asked to make sure they post a picture of themselves wearing red on September 28 on Facebook or Twitter with the hastag #wearredforzac
People can also join Zac's Facebook support page which is called 'Zachariah's's fight against Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia'.
People can also donate using their mobile phone by texting ZACH75 £1 to 70070.
He said: "What can I say, it just leaves you speechless. One thing for me is obviously you go through life and see the bad stuff that goes on and you lose hope some days in human kind and then something like this happens and you actually see the kindness and the spirit of people and you do realise the good human nature out there.
"It makes you believe in human kind again."
Next Friday is the focus of the fundraising campaign when a 'Wear Red for Zac' day will be taking place.
Scores of schools and workplaces are expected to join in the event by allowing pupils and staff to wear red.
In total it is understood that 40 schools and more than 100 businesses have signed up to take part already.
People are being asked to donate £1 to the cause and to post a picture of themselves on social media, with the hashtag #wearredforzac.
Some of the fundraising events planned include live music and a disco at the Golden Ball pub in Ironbridge on Saturday, September 29.
A series of musicians have donated their time to perform at the event, which will also include a raffle.
Tesco in Madeley has said it will be holding bucket collections at its checkouts on September 28, 29, and 30, and are looking to donate raffle prizes for other fundraising events.
Argo Dental in Telford and Premier Inn in Southwater are also set to take part in the 'Wear Red for Zac' day.
Garage fundraiser aims for £3,000
As the people of Shropshire throw their support behind young Zac Oliver, one Telford garage has organised its own fundraiser.
Mark Kettle, owner of EAC Telford, based at Halesfield 13, has been so moved by the plight of the Broseley four-year-old, that his garage will be donating all the profits from next Friday (SEPTEMBER 28), to the campaign to get Zac to the US for treatment.
The day will coincide with the 'Wear Red for Zac' day, where the youngster's parents are asking people to donate £1 to his campaign and to post a picture of themselves wearing read on social media – accompanied by the hashtag #wearredforzac.
Scores of businesses and schools have already pledged to take part in the day.
Welfare
Mark, 50, said that his suppliers had agreed to donate parts for free on the Friday, and he hopes to be able to hand over around £3,000 to Zac's fund.
The garage owner, who is a father of two, said Zac's parents should not have to think about trying to raise £500,000 while they are trying to look after their sick son, who is suffering from a rare form of child leukaemia.
He said: "At the end of the day he is a little lad and if it were my children or any of my employees we would be doing the same thing.
"It is just a shame that the NHS cannot do it and he has to go out to people like us to get the lad back on his feet again.
"I think the main thing his parents need to be concerned about is the welfare of their boy rather than having to raise money."
