Bolton mum's gratitude to George Michael who helped fund IVF

Lynette Gillard, 44, from Westhoughton, had almost given up on her hopes of becoming a parent after nine ‘heart-breaking’ rounds of IVF costing around £45,000.

Having been born with a rare condition, uterus didelphys, Lynette has two uteruses which amongst other factors, made conceiving a child difficult.

Following years of fertility treatments, Lynette’s partner at the time went on TV gameshow Deal or No Deal, winning the couple £3,000 for another round of IVF.

Following the airing of the episode in 2008, the pair were left stunned after producers informed them of an anonymous £9,000 donation to pay for tests, treatments and IVF.

It turned out that the money had come from Wham! star George Michael, who died on Christmas Day in 2016.

Lynette said: “What we didn’t realise at the time was that George Michael was a big fan of the show and after hearing our story, made an anonymous donation of £9,000.”

Lynette sent a letter, via the game show, to the anonymous donor to express her gratitude however it wasn’t until George’s death that she discovered who it was.

She said: “I had reporters come to my house and tell me after they figured out my identity from a tweet of Richard Osman’s, who worked on the game show at that time.

“He had written a tribute of some of the kind things George had done in his life and although I hadn’t been named, people figured it out.

“Then, in the new year, I went to visit Goring, where George lived, to lay some flowers when I started feeling unwell.

“I joked about being pregnant because on Christmas Day I had missed a period, but I never thought it could be true.

“By the end of January, I was really unwell and thought it was something serious and started getting frightened, but a friend forced me to take a test and we discovered I was eight weeks pregnant.”

At 15 weeks, Lynette was called on for part of a documentary on the star’s life and although she wanted to wait until 20 weeks to announce the news, she revealed her pregnancy in the interview.

Proud parents, Lynette and Nathan with baby Seth (Image: public)

She said: “I thought I had jinxed everything after that because I started bleeding.

“We spent more than six hours in the hospital running tests and I was devastated until we discovered the bleeding had been caused by my right uterus and my left uterus was still safely carrying my child.

“After that, I got in my car, I put the keys in the ignition, the radio flared to life and George Michael's Faith started blasting through the radio speakers.

“I was in tears on the phone to my friend, I don’t know if you believe in signs but you couldn’t make this up.”

Almost nine months after George’s death, on September 3, 2017, Seth George Hart was born weighing 7lbs 10oz.

Shortly after his birth, one of the nurses came running into Lynette’s room, a smile on her face, as she exclaimed ‘Jesus to a Child, is playing on the radio’.

Lynette said: “It was just bizarre how little things kept overlapping.

“I lost my mum to cancer in 2014 and I later found out that he and my mum both shared the same date of birth, June 25.

"Although I enjoyed listening to George’s music before I wasn’t a massive fan but now he holds a special place in my heart and when I listen to his music I feel so honoured that he helped me at such a difficult time of our lives.

“The whole thing has been surreal and my miracle child will be turning six this year, he is perfect in every way.

“I wish I could have had the chance to thank George in person for what he did, I’m so full of joy to have my son but there’s a part of me that will always feel a bit empty at not being able to do that."