Comedian Drives 400 Miles So Complete Strangers Can See Dying Mother Before She Passes Away

By Amanda Thomason April 4, 2019 at 1:13pm

When you’re out for a road trip, you face plenty of potential obstacles. Potholes, bad weather, flat tires, traffic and of course the possibility that you might personally be involved in an accident.

If you’re just moseying along and taking the scenic route, a holdup won’t be the worst thing in the world. But when you’re racing the clock, any little bump in the road can make all the difference.

Ron and Sharleen Gillies, 77 and 58, were driving from Edinburgh to Cambridge on sad family business: Sharleen’s mother was close to dying, and they were on their way to say goodbye.

They drove along until they were near Stockton, at which point they were involved in an accident. The only help they managed to get after calling around was a ride to the train station, but they’d have to wait three hours — three extra hours that Sharleen’s mother might not have.

Over 200 miles and 3.5 hours of driving stood between them and their final goodbye, but they were helpless to speed up their travel.

Thankfully, a man stopped to see what was the matter, and when he heard their story, he felt for them and made a generous offer.

“I got in the car to make sure they were alright,” comedian Dean Moore said, according to TeessideLive. “In my head the only thing that needed to be sorted was for them to get from Teesside to Cambridge.”

“It’s the last time they would see the mam,” Moore admitted. “I was just trying to be a decent human because so many people drove past.”

The couple was shocked at his offer.

“Dean said I will drive you,” Ron Gillies said. “I said you are talking about a round trip of 400 miles.”

“He said no, I will take you, I don’t know how many people would have offered such friendship. I just can’t put into words what that lad did for us.”

“This happened on the Sunday and she died the next day,” Ron added, “she died on Monday. If it hadn’t been for Dean there’s a fair chance we would have not got there in time.”

“People get awards for various things and they are just doing their job, whereas this lad, it wasn’t his job, he didn’t know us from Adam.”

Moore was just happy to make their awful day a little less horrible, and has used this opportunity to encourage others to keep their eyes and hearts open.

“By being kind and giving people your time you can make a bad situation nice by being helpful,” he said. “I did what any decent human would have done in that situation.”

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