Leigh: Firefighters raise money for GMP officer Darren White

Leigh Fire Station held a charity car wash in aid of Darren White, a Greater Manchester Police officer who suffered a stroke.

Darren, who is 40 years old, suffered an intercranial bleed in September 2021, which caused the haemorrhagic stroke.

He has spent the last 17 months in hospital.

After emergency surgery, Darren was in a critical condition in intensive care for weeks, followed by many more weeks in a hospital for intensive neurological rehabilitation.

Darren's wife, Joanne, and his two daughters, Abbie and Lola (Image: UGC)

He was then moved on to slow stream rehabilitation, where he has remained since February 2022.

Darren is at the stage where he can move back to his family home – however, he and his family now need an extension to allow him more living space, as he is wheelchair-bound.

PC Stacy Bodley and Leigh Station Manager Phil Mellor organised the event earlier this month to raise money for Darren and his family.

Over £2k was raised for the White family (Image: UGC)

Police officers, firefighters and even Darren’s daughters pitched in to wash the cars on the day, which raised over £2k in total.

PC Bodley said: “The day was fantastic, with both of Darren’s daughters, Abbie and Lola, helping to wash the cars, along with police officers from GMP and White Watch at Leigh Fire station.

“Phil Mellor, the Station Manager, helped me to arrange the event and not only did it show the community coming together it also showed emergency services working in partnership.

Darren suffered a stroke in September 2021 and is in rehabilitation for it (Image: UGC)

“The feedback from the public was great and it was heart-warming to see people attending the event who have never met Darren.

“The contributions were invaluable and in total we raised £2342.70.”

The GoFundMe for Darren and his family can be found here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/darren-move-out-of-neurorehab-back-to-his-family