Fundraising dad thrilled at Stephen Fry support (From Bucks Free Press)

Fundraising dad thrilled at Stephen Fry support

5:06pm Friday 30th January 2009

• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

THE fundraising father of a young boy battling eye cancer has told how he recruited actor and TV presenter Stephen Fry to help his cause.

The star of popular quiz show QI has directed fellow members of a social networking website to the story of 19-month-old Fintan Morley-Smith, of Coningsby Road, High Wycombe.

The youngster, who has the rare condition retinoblastoma, has gone through courses of chemotherapy, cryotherapy and radiotherapy, but is now doing well.

His father, James Morley-Smith, is planning to run the London Marathon to raise money and awareness for the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust.

But an unusual fundraising idea came to him as he watched last week's edition of Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, when guest Stephen Fry discussed the Twitter social networking website he is a member of.

Deciding to contact the star, Mr Morley-Smith registered on the website and left a message for him.

In it, he said used to live in Stanley Avenue, Chesham - the road where Stephen himself once lived – and asked if the TV star would consider drawing attention to his fundraising bid.

Mr Morley-Smith said the response that came from Stephen said: “Anything for a Cheshamite.”

A link which read: “You might consider sponsoring this fellow,” then appeared on Stephen's Twitter page, directing people to a link to the Bucks Free Press website, which featured a story on Fintan.

Thousands of people viewed the story over the next day, and dozens have flocked to sponsor Mr Morley-Smith, who raised hundreds as a direct result.

Many donors to his Just Giving website credited Stephen Fry for directing them to the story.

But Mr Morley-Smith thought the star's Twitter page might be too busy for his message to even be noticed at first.

He said: “I thought he'd ignore it to be honest, purely because of how many Twitters he must have. I was just lucky he saw it before it went off the bottom of his screen.

“I think I was very lucky with my timing, and probably adding an element of humour in there probably caught his attention.”

He added seeing Stephen's link “made my day”.

“The whole thing is quite amazing – it's the power of the internet and Stephen Fry.”

To see Stephen's Twitter message, click on the link to the right.

Mr Morley-Smith has now increased his fundraising target on his Just Giving website from £4,000 to £10,000 – having already doubled it from £2,000.

After Fintan's story appeared in the January 23 edition of the Bucks Free Press a mystery donor left the family delighted by leaving £1,000 on the website.

To sponsor Mr Morley-Smith on his marathon run, go to www.justgiving.com/jamesmorleysmith For more information on retinoblastoma, go to www.chect.org.uk, email info@chect.org.uk, or call 020 7377 5578.