A WROUGHTON dad has given thousands to the hospital that battled in vain to save his son’s life.

Rik Hunter, 79, made the £10,000 donation to the Critical Care Unit at Bath Royal United Hospital on what would have been his son’s 40th birthday.

Son Adrian Hunter, a former Ridgeway School pupil who lived and worked in Bath, spent 11 weeks at the unit after being found unconscious at his Central Bath flat in January.

The investments manager, who suffered from Type 1 diabetes, had contracted a rare bone marrow virus. Doctors battled to treat Adrian, but the virus proved to be incurable.

Dad Rik, a retired Royal Air Force officer, said that his son’s doctors had told Adrian he only had a couple of days to live.

“They asked him what he wanted to do,” Rik said.

A year earlier, Adrian’s mum Hazel had passed away in Wroughton’s Prospect Hospice, following a battle with cancer.

“Adrian said he wanted to go to Prospect Hospice because of his mum,” Rik said.

“I made sure I overtook the ambulance on the motorway so that when they opened the doors I was stood there waiting for him.

“He was only in there for 16 hours before he passed away.”

In his son’s memory, Rik has donated £10,000 to the Critical Care Unit at Bath Royal United Hospital.

He said: “Adrian was given unbelievable care and attention from a dedicated nursing team looking after him 24-hours a day. The doctors went to enormous lengths to try to find out what was wrong with him.

“Everyone put in so much time and effort to try to save him and, as far as I could tell, no stone was left unturned.”

Gavin Hitchman, critical care and outreach matron at the RUH, said: “This is an extremely generous donation that will be used for the benefit of future patients we care for.

“Adrian was an amazingly brave and likeable young man, one who staff recall as a pleasure to care for.”

Last month, Rik made a £10,000 donation to the Prospect Hospice. It is hoped that the money will be used to buy a specialised bed at the hospice.