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Plea to get sick Inverness baby home from Glasgow is answered


By Louise Glen

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Lucas Shields is able to come home after an online fundraising appeal.
Lucas Shields is able to come home after an online fundraising appeal.

Parents of a seriously ill baby have offered their thanks after an urgent appeal to help get him home was answered.

Toddler Lucas Shields (1), who suffers from aplastic anaemia and bone marrow failure, has been given the all-clear to come home to Inverness from hospital in Glasgow where he has been staying for the past two months.

However, as his delighted parents Rachel Watts and Peter Shields, who have been taking turns to stay with him at the hospital, got ready to collect him they discovered a fault with their car that they were told would take around £500 to fix.

Unable to meet the cost themselves, family friend Shelley Gill set up a gofundme page to raise the cash they needed.

Ms Gill said: “Rachel and Peter have been facing a very trying time and facing something that no parents want to go through. Their adorable son, Lucas, has been receiving treatment and had to receive a bone marrow transplant 62 days ago.

“They need their son home safe in isolation where the risk of him contracting Covid-19 is lower than in hospital and they need to be able to travel to Glasgow with very little warning as this is where he has been receiving his specialist treatment.”

After the fundraising target was reached, Ms Watts said: “I would like to say thank you to Shelley for setting up the appeal and for all the donations. Also Inverness City Taxis who offered to take us if the car could not be fixed.”

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