Daughter praises first responder as she fundraises in memory of her dad

The daughter of a popular North Lincolnshire village man is raising money for charity in his memory and in recognition of the great work being done by a local LIVES first responder.

Neil Moore, 63, worked as a farmer in the remote village Garthorpe for all of his life and also spent 18 years in a second job pulling the ships in at Flixborough.

Since his death last month the local community has pulled together and his daughter Samantha Garbutt said “the amount of kind messages and condolence cards” the family have received shows just how well loved he was in the village.

Over £3,500 has also been raised in memory of her dad, which will be donated to LIVES – make a donation here.

Neil with her daughter Samantha on her wedding day in Cyprus in 2014. | Photo: Samantha Garbutt

Samantha said: “He was a very laid back, kind, wonderful man. His farm was his passion and then he took on the second job so he could keep farming. He would do anything for anybody and was always smiling.

“We had a wake on Sunday (January 22) and everyone had nice things to say about him. He was such a big face of the village and always stopped to chat if he saw you. A big part of the village has gone.”

Samantha’s graduation with her mum Sue and dad Neil. | Photo: Samantha Garbutt

On November 28 last year, Neil woke up at 4am with chest pains and his wife Sue rang for an ambulance. A local LIVES volunteer who lives nearby came and sat with him for four hours and put him on oxygen until an ambulance came from Newark.

He was in hospital for eight days, including his 32nd wedding anniversary which was the first one he’d had apart from his wife. He was then in and out of hospital in December and was told he had liver damage and underwent several tests, but due to his clotting levels they had to delay doing a biopsy to check for cancer.

Neil enjoying a silent disco after her daughter’s wedding in Cyprus, which she said he described as his “favourite day ever”. | Photo: Samantha Garbutt

Neil became unwell again over Christmas and declined quickly, unable to eat and drink much. On December 27, his family tried to rush him to hospital, but due to struggling with mobility issues they were unable to get him into the car and called for an ambulance and was initially told the wait would be six hours.

His daughter Samantha, who works as a nurse, at another hospital, waited 15 hours with her dad before an ambulance arrived at around 11.30pm that evening. Neil then had to spend nine-and-a-half hours waiting in an ambulance parked outside Scunthorpe General Hospital before he could be admitted into A&E, but sadly he died of organ failure a few days later on Friday, December 30.

Neil with his daughter Samantha, then aged 7, at her aunty and uncle’s wedding. | Photo: Samantha Garbutt

Samantha sees the pressures first hand in her job, but says the ambulance staff and those working at A&E are “amazing” and that is it more the government that needs to address the situation by improving staffing levels.

She said: “Because we are in the middle of nowhere, it can take ambulances longer to get to us, so it is brilliant having a LIVES volunteer in the village. It’s all voluntary and it is amazing what she is doing.”

Karla McKeever, Communications Manager at LIVES, said: “We are so glad one of our Community First Responders was able to assist Neil in his time of need. LIVES respond to thousands of emergency calls, right across the county.

“Each call a LIVES Responder attend is due to someone calling 999, from breathing difficulties to cardiac arrests, road traffic collisions to industrial accidents. Each of these calls funded by the generosity of people of Lincolnshire, and we are so grateful to Sam for raising much needed vital funds for LIVES.”

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