'Gazza you legend!' Paul Gascoigne donates £1k to girl who had speech machine stolen
PAUL Gascoigne has donated £1,000 to a disabled teenager who was left unable to communicate after thieves stole her computer.
Paul Gascoigne donated £1,000 towards a new speech machine for disabled teen Miya Thirlby
Miya Thirlby, 16, has cerebral palsy and epilepsy and used the computer to generate speech from what she is looking at.
The Accent 1400 computer, which costs about £5,750, was stolen from a car outside the family home in Plymouth.
The ex-England football star donated the money last night after after Miya’s family launched an appeal to find the stolen equipment.
Gascoigne tweeted: "I'll donate a £1000 now towards a new one for ya, get in touch wiv us Love GAZZA xxxx."
Paul Gascoigne tweeted a picture confirming the donation
I'll donate a £1000 now towards a new one for ya, get in touch wiv us Love GAZZA xxxx
He later tweeted a picture confirming the donation and said: “Done pal, Love GAZZA xxxx.”
Yesterday Miya’s dad Paul Johnson said he was "overwhelmed" by the public's response.
Within a few hours of launching a fundraising page, its £6,000 target had been smashed.
The 40-year-old business analyst said: “The reaction has been nuts.
Gazza you are a legend!!! Lots of love!
— Jacob O'Connor (@jacobf_oconnor) January 11, 2018
Alright Gazza. Great to see you on here and doing well, fantastic footballer fantastic bloke with a big heart don’t let the trolls get you down look forward to following on here, true legend and there’s not many of them around.
— ajl (@walinoz01) January 12, 2018
"It restores your faith in human nature."
Mr Johnson believes the thieves may have thought they were stealing a regular computer as it was stored in a laptop bag.
He has urged anyone who might know where it is to hand it in to a responsible person.
The computer contains pictures of Miya’s, mother and father and her twin Macie. The machine even says their names if Miya looks at the images.
Your a top bloke Paul and a legend. We all love you ????????????
— John Taylor (@delboy1348) January 12, 2018
Miya Thirlby (right) using her talking computer
Mr Johnson initially thought it would not be necessary to start a fundraiser as he was hopeful that the equipment would be returned.
He said: "Plymouth is not that big and word has spread so I am pretty sure the people who did this will know by now.
"It's looking doubtful we will get it back but you never know."