99-year old war veteran raises over £12 million for the NHS to combat Covid-19

A 99-year old war veteran on Thursday raised over £12 million for Britain’s health services to help them combat the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.

Retired Army Captain Tom Moore had launched a fund-raising campaign on April 11. Maytrix, a company owned by his daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore and son-in-law, Colin Ingram launched a fundraising page raising donation online for NHS Charities to help health workers in the country combat the current crisis.

“I’m Captain Tom Moore, war veteran, 99 years of age (soon to be 100) and I’m walking for the NHS to raise money for our heroes,” Captain Tom Moore had posted on his Twitter account.

Moore had aimed to walk a hundred lengths of his back garden which is 25m in length before his hundredth birthday at the end of the month taking 10 laps a day. A feat which he completed today according to a BBC report. He has raised over £12 million so far according to the official tally on the donation page.

Moore who walks using a walking frame after a hip repair operation had initially aimed to raise a 1000 pounds. However, his initiative garnered massive media attention with his call for donations on social media gaining huge traction.

By Wednesday Moore’s cause had attracted over 250,000 supporters who pledged over £8 million in donations.

“If the public wants to keep on donating then he'll keep on walking," Moore’s son-in-law Colin Ingram told Reuters .

The story has lifted the spirits of people across the globe amid the grim reality of the looming coronavirus crisis. The United Kingdom has reported over 98,000 cases of Covid-19 with more than 12,000 deaths so far according to reports. Worldwide, the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 surpassed the two million mark on Wednesday.

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