Jason Manford has made an incredible gesture to a dying mum by kickstarting a fundraiser to help pay off her mortgage.
The comedian was so moved after hearing mum-of-three Rachel Clements' heartbreaking story that he decided to get involved.
And the campaign has raised a whopping £80,000 in just three days.
Single mother Rachel was desperate to make sure that her three children – Ivan, one, Louis, three, and Chloe, 12 – are looked after when she dies.
Her biggest fear is where they will live, especially as she still has a £119,000 mortgage on her property in Ely, Cambs.
But that could now be paid off, giving the kids a permanent place to live after BBC star Jason boosted her fundraising page.
Rachel, 30, has suffered from the rare and incurable lung disease Pulmonary Fibrosis since she was 15 and is now in palliative care.
She has less than a quarter of her lung capacity, and is entirely oxygen dependent.
She also suffers Crohn’s disease, which has damaged her bowels.
But one of her biggest fears is making sure that her kids have somewhere to live after she passes away.
Friends launched a crowdfunding page to pay off her £119,000 mortgage and possibly to provide private care for Rachel.
It caught the eye of BBC star Jason, and he called on his million followers to donate.
Comic Jason said: “Here’s a mad idea.
“ Facebook tells me there are over one million active fans on my Facebook page.
“That’s over one million potential or current actual charity ninjas.
“So only one this week and it is a super mum, Rachel, who has a number of awful things wrong with her.
“Yet whose only wish in the frankly awful timing of her imminent passing, now she’s in palliative care, is what any of us would want.
“Our children to feel safe and secure when we’re no longer around.”
He explained Rachel wants to take the pressure away from eldest daughter Chloe.
“No 12-year-old should be under that much of a burden at her age,” Jason said.
“So you’ll miss a fancy coffee this week or maybe don’t get a pudding one night!
“That’s all it takes to change a family’s life, to good, for good!”
In under a week, the funds rocketed up from £30,000 to £80,000.
Last night Rachel – who blogs as Breathlessly Mothering – said she was “lost for words” by people’s kindness.
Talking about her children, the mum said: “It’s impossible not to smile when I’m surrounded by them despite the disconsolate situation.
“They are ultimately what I live for each day, desperately fighting for air at every anxiety-driven breath.
“My pride, my reason to still push through to see another day.
“But soon they will have to live and breathe without me, a thought that punches me deep in the pit of my stomach.”
Rachel says living with such a horrible condition had made life very difficult for her and her children.
“I have a portable oxygen concentrator, so when I go out that sits under the pram,” she said.
“When I’m home, I’m tethered to a pipe which the kids trip over.
“We’ve got used to it. They’ve never known me any different.
“Now I’m at that point where I can’t really do anything, and we’re at end of days.
“The thing that worried me the most was my children not having any security in our home.”
Speaking about her conditions, she said: “My children take my mind off it.
“I feel really cheated that it’s happened so quickly since I turned 30.
“My worry for me is that they won’t know who I am.
“I feel like I’m not making the most of having children.”
Rachel, who uses a mobility scooter, is restricted to what she can do but says they still manage to enjoy walks together and being outside as a family.
Rachel says eldest Chloe is like “another mum” to Ivan and Louis.
“It’s hard because there hasn’t been a physical change.
“She’s not looking at me in a hospital bed dying, so there hasn’t been that shock factor.
“I still get the same hormonal cheek,” Rachel laughed.
Running her blog – Breathlessly Mothering – has helped her come to terms with her illness.
“I’ve always been very proud, and not very open about how ill I am, so people are more accepting,” she said.
“I’ve always found it really hard to fit in since being ill.
“It’s a place where I can be myself, because I’m not face to face.
“It got to a stage where I was really struggling, and that was impacting the kids.
“I wasn’t getting any help because people didn’t know how ill I was.
“Now the help I get is amazing, our village is amazing, the mums at school are so helpful.”
To donate visit https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/helptheclementskids .
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