Colin McRae's widow hands over £35,000 for ambulance equipment

ALISON McRae, wife of Lanark's late World Rally Champion Colin McRae, recently presented a £35,000 cheque to purchase specialist medical equipment for a new paediatric intensive care ambulance, for which funds are currently being raised by the Yorkhill Children's Foundation.

The specially-fitted out ambulance for Yorkhill Children's Hospital is the first major project to benefit from a donation from The Colin McRae Vision Charity, set up by the McRae family in April 2008 in response to the overwhelming number of messages of sympathy and donations received from members of the public around the world.

Alison said: "This donation is the first of many we plan to make and it is particularly important that it is going towards such a worthwhile project.

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"Colin's fans have been amazing in their fundraising efforts, for example the McRae Gathering organised a convoy of Subaru Owners to drive from Lanark to Banbury, raising more than 53,000 through sales of stickers, posters and memorabilia.

"I am very honoured to be presenting this cheque today on their behalf."

The money will allow the fit out of the ambulance with state-of-the-art monitoring equipment, which could help save the lives of 300 of children a year.

Accepting the donation on behalf of Yorkhill Children's Foundation was Dr Andrew McIntyre, who launched the appeal after identifying the potential life saving benefits of a designated intensive care ambulance capable of providing vital emergency cover within a two hour range of the Glasgow hospital.

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He said: "This is an incredibly generous donation from The Colin McRae Vision Charity and puts us a step closer to reaching our target of 120,000.

"The new ambulance will allow us to treat patients as soon as we arrive on the scene, which really can make the difference between life and death."

Also attending the presentation was Tallulah McConnachie (6) who was rushed to Yorkhill Hospital after being badly bitten on the throat by a friend's dog on December 13.

The little girl, from Millport, was in intensive care for a week following the accident. Although now back at school, Tallulah faces a further operation to check her windpipe is healing properly.

For more information on this article, see this week's Carluke and Lanark Gazette, which is in the shops now.