THE brother of a teenager who sadly died in a motorcycle crash nearly 17 years ago has raised more than £60,000 for charity in his memory.
Matthew Heath, 18, from Marske, was driving along the B1269 road, travelling between Dunsdale and Guisborough in July 2008 when the Aprilia motorbike he was riding collided with a Land Rover Freelander.
The Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) flew to the scene but unfortunately Matthew died from his injuries.
Matthew’s brother Tom Heath, 37, from Redcar, began fundraising in his memory to support GNAAS and has organised several events over the years.
He said: “It’s very important for me to keep fundraising in memory of Matty. It’s not only to keep his memory alive but to help save lives and help stop others going through what we did as a family and community when we lost him.”
Tom has organised several football tournaments and 11-a-side games, music events with help from his friend Daniel Wilkinson, horse race nights, family fun days, raffles, Boxing Day Dips, and some of his friends have run half marathons.
Speaking about Matthew, Tom said: “He was a kind and happy young man, always smiling, he had a love for motorbikes and watching the Moto GP following Valentino Rossi 46. He actually went to Valencia to watch his idol for his 18th birthday.
“He was an excellent archer and went to shoot competitions with our dad David.
“He also loved fishing, football, socialising with his friends and he was a big family man just like myself.
“He was so proud when we had our first son Joseph and he became an uncle for the first time but it certainly breaks my heart that he only had a month with Joe and sadly never met our son Jacob”.
Following his latest fundraiser, which was the Boxing Day Dip, Tom, his wife Nicola, and their children Joseph and Jacob visited GNAAS’ base near Eaglescliffe to present a cheque for £2,655.
This amount took the total raised by Tom and his friends and family to £60,071.03.
He said: “I felt a fantastic sense of achievement when I surpassed the £60k total raised this year for GNAAS as it’s a wonderful amount to raise for the charity and I know Matty and my mam would be watching down extremely proud of me, Nicola, Joe and Jacob for doing it.”
Tom plans to continue taking part in the Boxing Day Dip at Marske every year to raise even more funds for the charity and keep Matty’s memory alive.
He said: “We’ve done 16 years of the Boxing Day Dips now and moving onto the 17th this year. Over the past four years my two sons have done it with me which makes me hugely proud.”
Ben Sisson, philanthropy and CSR specialist at GNAAS, said: “We are incredibly grateful for the support we receive from Tom and his family and it’s a pleasure to invite them to our base to see the good work that their fundraising supports. Through his unwavering dedication and selfless actions, Tom has not only honoured the memory of his brother but also enabled our critical care team to continue helping people in need across the region. He is truly an inspiration.”
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