Keedie 25

Sometimes you just have to stand back and go wow.

That's exactly what I did last Saturday night in Paignton. Plus I walked away with a washing machine.

There was an auction for Chris Keartland. Who's he?

Chris is 14 years old, the only child to Tina and David. He goes to school at Brixham Community College and nine weeks ago he had a heart attack on his school sports day.

The Devon Air Ambulance was called and he was airlifted to Torbay.

Unfortunately Chris was unable to breath for 13 minutes which led to his brain being starved of oxygen which has led to brain damage.

After a few days he was transferred to Bristol for more tests, which led to his parents being told that he would not recover.

After a week at Bristol he was transferred back to Torbay to the John Parkes Unit and since then he's been making so much progress.

He's smiling, talking, sitting up and can understand small tasks. He even grins if you ask him about Chelsea. He won't when Arsenal beat them next month.

Last Monday he went up to Bath Hospital where he will be receiving intensive therapy.

After this devastating incident Chris's friends got together along with their parents and put together this massive auction evening. The mayor Nick Bye kindly donated his time to host the evening. The Inn on the Green kindly donated the room.

Bill Callaghan, Chris's old teacher contacted me to see if I would pop along and support and he got in touch with Keedie Babb who sang superbly at the interval.

Local businesses donated tons of goods and Chris's mates all helped as well. Here's the names of a few of them: Ben Palmer, Max Prestwood, Tom King, Carl Bradley, Adam Blackburn, Matt Richards, Tom Rabone, Lauren Hallet, Ella Haladay and Hollie Portch.

The auction kicked off. The generosity was phenomenal. Bids were flying in from everywhere. Nick and myself were like Ant and Dec with our jovial banter. I did realise though that he was a lot posher than me when he kept saying: "As soon as we get the first half out of the way we can stop for supper." I kept saying we'll stop for a munch at the buffet, I'm so common.

I couldn't help myself by mentioning that the next few items to auction by Nick were St Kilda's in Brixham and Oldway Mansion. He carried on as if nothing had been said. A true politician.

A Man United top went for £500 and I bought a washing machine for £190. It was wicked.

My mate Mark Harbron from Proform Labour in Newton Abbot popped along to show his support. A few weeks earlier I played and won some prizes in his company's golf day at Axcliff golf course in Seaton and we raised nearly £200.

Mark wasn't sure who to give the money to so I suggested give it to Chris.

He did better than that. He phoned around his business contacts and topped it up to £1,000. With all the rubbish that sometimes happens in this world it is really humbling to see people care.

I've just received an e-mail from one of the auction organisers Sam. The money raised on the evening was £7,555 plus the £1,000 from Mark at Proform giving a grand total of £8,555 WOW.

Thanks to everyone who donated items to auction. Hopefully the money will help make life just a little bit easier for Chris and his family.