‘I salute you!’: Piers Morgan is praised by WWII hero, 99, for donating £10,000 towards his bid to march around his garden 100 times to raise funds for the NHS
- Captain Tom Moore, 99, is doing 100 lengths of his garden before he turns 100
- He has raised more than £450,000 for NHS Charities Together since April 9
- ‘Little or small, whatever you can, let’s get you over the half a million’ – Piers
A 99-year-old who has raised nearly £500,000 for the NHS by marching around his garden received a £10,000 donation from Piers Morgan live on Good Morning Britain today.
Captain Tom Moore, 99, who is doing 100 lengths of his garden before he turns 100 at the end of April, set out to raise £1,000 for NHS Charities Together last week, but reached that target in less than 24 hours.
Within a week of starting the fundraiser the Bedfordshire veteran has raised £455,000 for the health care service, with donations flooding in.
Captain Tom Moore is doing 100 lengths of his garden in Bedfordshire before he turns 100-years-old on April 30. So far his sponsored walk has raised more than £400,000
Piers Morgan, pictured next to Susanna Reid on Good Morning Britain, donated an extra £10,000 toward Tom’s fundraising efforts live on the ITV show on Monday
Today he received an extra £10,000 from GMB presenter Piers Morgan, who told the near-centenarian: ‘Captain Tom Moore, thank you for serving your country. I’m so glad that we were able, through the brilliant NHS, to serve you back and keep you going.
‘Good luck – I want to get you over the line today. Here’s what I’m going to do, Tom, I’m going to put £10,000 of my own money into your fundraising today and I hope that encourages everyone watching at home to do the same.
‘Little or small, whatever you can do. Let’s get you over the half a million. You’ve got 10 grand from me.’
Captain Tom Moore, 99, appeared on Good Morning Britain with his daughter Hannah on Monday morning
The 99-year-old tweeted his thanks to Susanna Reid and Piers for having him on the show, adding: ‘Piers – I salute you’.
During the Second World War Tom Moore was posted in India, serving and fighting on the Arakan in south east Asia. He later returned to Britain to be an instructor at Armoured Fighting Vehicle School in Bovington.
Viewers took to Twitter to praise the £10,000 donation from Piers, with one user describing the presenter as a ‘hero’.
Another wrote: ‘Thank you Piers Morgan! You are a true gent. There are no other words to say! From a proud and exhausted NHS worker.’
Speaking today Tom said: ‘It’s fabulous that people are being so kind to give so much money to the NHS.
‘If you’ve ever been in hospital you’ll know that the nurses change shifts around 9am and come in bright eyed and bushy tailed but they must be apprehensive about wandering into the lion’s den.
‘They don’t know what they’re in for but my god are they brave.’