A FATHER fundraising to send his son to America for pioneering surgery has blasted thieves who stole a collection box in Rhyl.
Andrew Telford, who is trying to raise £50,000 to send six-year-old AJ Tighe for surgery that could help him walk, was horrified to discover a collection box had been raided at the Big n Beefy burger bar in Rhyl.
Mr Telford said he was saddened by the theft which took place in the home of “team AJ”, a group of stalwart fundraisers who include the anonymous Facebook characters Rhyl Rat and Rhyl MacChicken.
Mr Telford said: “We were collecting the buckets in and I was told ‘your bucket got snatched last week’ at last orders. We got the bucket back - a young kid brought it in, but how much was in it, we don’t know.
“What’s annoying is that to them, it would have been a chip butty or a packet of cigs or something, but it was to go for AJ’s new legs. I know times are hard, but you’d think a charity box would be safe and people would have morals and think it was a no go area. I haven’t told AJ.”
Despite the setback, the campaign to take AJ to St Louis for pioneering treatment to alleviate the symptoms of cerebral palsy is still going strong.
Mr Telford said: “We’ve raised £22,000, more than £2000 in the past three weeks. The support from the community in these hard times has been amazing and stacks of people are still giving and still being so compassionate. We’re very grateful for that.
“But when you get scumbags doing this, it sort of undermines what the community is trying to do. I honestly didn’t think you can go any lower.”
Police are investigating the incident and anyone with information should call detectives on 0300 330 0101.
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A number of events are going ahead to support the Operation AJ appeal, including bag packing at Marks and Spencer in Rhyl on December 10, a Christmas Showcase in the Vale Road Centre at 7.30pm on December 16 and the Panto That Isn’t A Panto But Is at 6pm on December 17 and 3.30pm on December 18.