Sir Rod Stewart has pledged £5,000 to a severely disabled Ayrshire teen after reading of the family's benefits struggle in the Daily Record. The Maggie May singer has a long history of using his fortune to help others, especially in Scotland.
Connor, from Mauchline, turned 18 earlier this year. When his family submitted a fresh claim for his £338 monthly benefit in June, they faced a series of "upsetting" phone calls about his ability to get a job and were forced to file sick lines. At one point, they received an email telling them to spend time "looking and preparing for work" and were summoned to another "work-focused interview" by phone, with a warning of a sanction if it was missed. The three-month ordeal eventually ended.
A history of big-hearted gestures
Sir Rod, whose wealth was previously estimated at over £220 million, was moved by the family's ordeal and pledged his support, leaving them "speechless". This is the latest in a long line of generous acts by the 81-year-old, who announced his last ever tour this week.
Last July, Rod donated £4,000 to a fundraiser in memory of fellow Celtic supporter Aiden McLuckie, 14, who died after being hit by a car on the A76. Just two months earlier, he stepped in to help four-year-old Iain Gregori, who was caught in a "blackhole" waiting for an autism diagnosis. The Daily Record had highlighted the lack of CAMHS appointments for children with conditions like autism and ADHD, with children removed from waiting lists because health chiefs no longer put young people with these conditions on a waiting list for CAMHS appointments.
Helping children and cancer patients
After reading the story, Sir Rod, knighted in 2016 for services to music and charity, said he wanted to pay for Iain to have a private consultation, saying: "Of course, all the costs will be down to me." In July 2023, he helped a little girl's dream come true after learning she watches her mum go without food to feed her family. He offered to donate £2,500 to help Sophia McKenzie's mum after reading her plight in the Record. Sophia, 10, had written about her hopes for the future in a school task, penning a note on how the cost of living crisis is affecting her family, who rely on food banks.
Sophia wrote: "I have a dream that one day we will live in a world where the cost of living crisis stops and everything is free and nobody struggles with not being able to eat." Sir Rod said at the time: "I simply had to find a way to help." In June that year, he donated £10,000 to NHS Grampian in Aberdeenshire to help patients fighting cancer, with the funds used for additional diagnostic scans. The Hot Legs superstar announced in 2019 he had beaten prostate cancer after three years and has also suffered from thyroid cancer. He said it was "vital" that people receive early investigations and a quick diagnosis, adding it was an "honour to be in the position to be able to help support the NHS".
Surprising a centenarian veteran
In 2020, Rod surprised an old soldier whose 100th birthday party was axed in the coronavirus lockdown, helping Black Watch veteran Alfred Waters mark the milestone. Sir Rod reached out after the Record revealed the war hero's disappointment, saying he had wept at the sight of him being serenaded by a lone piper at his sheltered housing complex in Perthshire. Rod said: "The fact that his birthday was effectively cancelled brought me to tears. As a result, I've now sent a small cheque so he can really enjoy himself when this is all over. I just hope he's not a Rangers fan as he might end up sending it back!"
