The late John Sheridan's classic car donated to Donegal Hospice could be yours

A heartfelt gesture by a Rathmullan man who spent his last days at Donegal Hospice means a classic 1951 Ford Popular car will be raffled on Monday.

John Sheridan was 81 years when passed away from cancer in the Donegal Hospice in September 2022. Before his time in the Hospice, he, like many others, was unaware of what care it provided until his journey with cancer reached near its end.

When John made the hard decision that his life would get no better and the care that he was receiving from the Letterkenny Hospital cancer unit no longer met his needs, he requested to be taken into The Donegal Hospice. 

Within a few hours there he stated that he felt like “a new man” and could not believe that they had such care and compassion. At the time, he said it was “a miracle”. The willing staff at the Hospice managed to do what the doctors had not quite managed to do which was to finally relieve the excruciating pain that he was in.  

The nursing team and all the staff treated John with care, compassion, respect and most importantly, dignity. The Donegal Hospice brought John sincere comfort in the last few weeks of his life and for this reason he wanted to ensure that he gave back as much to them as what he felt they had given to him. 

John thought long and hard about what he could do to even try to repay them for what they had done for him and his family, the Hospice had supported his immediate and extended family too. 

John decided that the best thing he could do was to donate something to the hospice. He felt money wasn’t good enough, as, like the care he had received from the Hospice team, his gift needed to be more personal.  

He decided that the best thing to do was to gift the Hospice one of his most prized possessions, his beloved 1951 Ford Popular Car. 

John loved classic cars and throughout his life had bought and sold many of them but the little Popular had been kept and cherished for many years. 

John had the car fully repaired and resprayed while he owned it to complete its restoration. You can support Donegal Hospice by purchasing a raffle ticket for this beautiful car. John's family wishes you the very best of luck and they hope that whoever wins this beautiful car will treasure it as John did.

Tickets are still available online here or by contacting Isobel at the hospice on 0872389607. The draw will take place on Monday morning on Highland Radio at 10:30am.