12:10 pm, October 13, 2017
A CAR dealer has given a free car to the parents of a boy with cancer so they can take him to his hospital appointments.
Five-year-old James Parkinson was diagnosed with kidney cancer in September, after a Wilms’ tumour was discovered the day before he was to start primary school.
Doctors at Leeds Children’s hospital said James would have to have one chemotherapy session every week, but his parents – 29-year-old Michael Parkinson and 27-year-old Jenna South – didn’t own a car, meaning they had to hire one for £200 per week.
That was when Leon Dawson, owner of Minster Car Company in Hull, heard about the family’s dire situation and decided to give them a Suzuki Alto, worth around £2,000, absolutely free-of-charge.
Speaking to the Hull Daily Mail, Dawson said: ‘It’s happened to me in the family. My cousin came to live with me because she lost her mum to cancer when she was only 18.
‘I just felt so sorry for them and I knew that they were paying a lot for their hire car. I’ve been there and it’s not nice for anyone, so I just wanted to get involved.’
James’ father, Michael, told the Mail: ‘It means absolutely everything financially. I never thought that anyone would do this for me and my family, but everyone has been brilliant and we’ve had lots of support.’
James is going in for an operation on Wednesday, when surgeons will remove his kidney and the tumour.
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