Six-year-old boy starts heartwarming chain reaction at McDonald’s drive thru after asking his mother to pay for a meal for the car behind – before the kind gesture was passed down the line
- Blake Durham wanted to lift people’s spirits during the second winter lockdown
- Mother Amy paid the bill of the car behind them in Portrack, Stockton-on-Tees
- Blake was diagnosed with epilepsy aged two has been hospitalised three times
A six-year-old boy, who suffers severe epilepsy, kick-started an uplifting chain reaction at a McDonald’s drive-through, which saw everyone in the queue pay for the meal of the car behind.
Wanting to lift people’s spirits during the second national lockdown, Blake Durham told his mother Amy he wanted to do something kind for others.
Coming up with the novel idea, he asked his mother to pay the bill for the food ordered by the car directly behind them at the drive-in restaurant in Portrack, Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham.
Amy agreed and to the amazement of the McDonald’s staff, the goodwill gesture was passed on down the line.
Staff battled to keep up with the complicated ordering system but it meant everyone left the queue with a smile on their face.
Blake Durham pictured with his mother Amy. She said: ‘It costs barely anything to be kind, we are so happy that we have spread some positivity’
But the biggest smile was most definitely across Blake’s face who had fulfilled his generous wish.
Proud Amy, 32, said: ‘He’s been so ill, we’ve nearly lost him twice but you’d never know what he’s gone through.
‘Blake told me he wanted to do something kind so we went and got a McDonald’s breakfast and we paid for the car behind.
‘We had to wait in a bay for our food and when we did the lady came out and told me everyone was now paying for the car behind and they were so happy and smiling.
The McDonald’s drive-thru in in Portrack, Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham
‘It was nice to think that chain reaction was caused by my little six-year-old’s gorgeous heart.
‘It costs barely anything to be kind, we are so happy that we have spread some positivity.’
The youngster was diagnosed with epilepsy when he was two and has been admitted to hospital three times in a critical condition in the last four years.
Epilepsy is a condition that affects the brain and leaves patients at risk of seizures.
Blake Durham, 6, told his mother Amy he wanted to do something kind for others and asked her to pay the bill for the food ordered by the car directly behind them at the drive thru
Around one in 100 people in the UK have epilepsy, according to Epilepsy Action.
Epilepsy can be brought on at any age by a stroke, brain infection, head injury or problems at birth that lead to lack of oxygen.
But in more than half of cases, a cause is never found. Anti-epileptic drugs do not cure the condition but help to stop or reduce seizures.
Lockdown hasn’t been easy for the schoolboy who’s also beaten bouts of illness during the pandemic.
His grandmother Jan Durham, 52, says she is proud of the way he has handled the condition.
Jan said: ‘I’m mega proud, he’s the apple of my eye and his mum is a trooper too. He’s such a little brave boy with a massive heart of gold.
‘He does suffer, but he’s just so kind and gentle. He’s an amazing, beautiful, kind boy who fights his epilepsy like a warrior.’
Over the past few months he has created a bird garden for his four brothers and sisters and is regularly out in the garden feeding the birds, as well as tidying up round the house, said his grandmother.