A NURSE’S final act of kindness helped carry Brighter Futures’ £2.9m radiotherapy appeal over the finish line.

Geoff Lawrence died in 2016 after a battle with brain cancer. In his will the Rodbourne man had pledged a massive £150,000 legacy to the radiotherapy appeal. He himself had been forced to make the 70-mile round trip to Oxford for cancer treatment.

Mum Daisy, 85, this month handed over a cheque to fundraisers at the Great Western Hospital, where her son worked.

The Shaw pensioner paid tribute to her son, a talented saw player whose bands played in many Swindon pubs.

“He was ever so naughty, but there was so much good in him,” she told the Swindon Advertiser. “After his funeral, whenever I met up with his friends, everyone had a funny story to tell about him. It just kept us going.”

She believed his choice of nursing as a career had been influenced by his childhood experiences. Geoff’s sister, Lynda, was severely disabled and died in 2007 aged 39 after a mixture of paracetamol and her epilepsy medication caused irreversible liver damage.

“His university course thesis was all about caring for disabled children in hospitals,” Daisy said. Geoff also worked for a time caring for people with learning disabilities.

As well as helping people, Geoff’s other love was playing music.

Initially a pianist, he took up the guitar and mandolin. Unusually, he also mastered the saw, playing it with a violin bow. Geoff’s saw still hangs on the wall at The Glue Pot pub, which was his local. Geoff dragged mum Daisy to a number of concerts around Swindon. He also played pub gigs regularly with his band, S’GO.

A keen driver but forced into the passenger seat as his illness progressed, Geoff took his mum’s VW Polo for a spin around the track at Castle Coombe not long before he died. He “whizzed round and round” the track as the professional drivers took their lunch break, mum Daisy said.

And in race track style, Geoff’s generous donation helped wave Brighter Futures’ £2.9m radiotherapy appeal across the finish line. It is hoped the unit could open in 2020.

Dr Guy Rooney, medical director at GWH, said: “This is another example of the generosity of the people of Swindon and the surrounding area. They really recognise the need to bring radiotherapy to GWH.

“Christmas is a time of giving. What better present could there be for the people of Swindon.”