Guardtech Commercial Director Mark Wheeler and Marketing Manager Joe Shackley joined forces with a group of their ex-school friends to raise the money for Joe Martin, a multiple sclerosis sufferer from Woolpit, who had been struggling to eat a wide range of foods for some time.
Having already seen his quality of life deteriorate significantly due to MS, Mr Martin had dropped to just seven stone in weight by the time the group of friends decided to act.
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Mr Wheeler and Mr Shackley had initially set up a GoFundMe campaign in the hope of raising some money to help Mr Martin receive medical therapy known as FMT that he couldn't get via the NHS, with Haverhill company Guardtech pledging £4,000 towards the campaign.
"As a family business, we try to do our bit to help out as many good causes as we can," said Mr Wheeler, "and the Guardtech Directors kindly agreed to donate up to £4,000, with the hope that we’d get around the same amount in outside donations."
But what happened next was astonishing. After sharing the GoFundMe page to their Facebook pages and beyond, friends, family and ex-colleagues of Mr Martin rallied around the cause, helping the fundraising total soar towards the £10,000 mark in just 24 hours.
The total eventually reached £13,276 (£17,276 with Guardtech's donation) before it was finally closed officially at the start of May.
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Image: Guardtech Group
