Cromwell man rewarded for building houses that'll raise funds to help boy with cerebral palsy walk

July 4, 2019

Post-surgery, four-year-old Harry Finch faces many years of expensive physiotherapy. (Source: Other)

Derek Craig is your typical humble bloke from Cromwell, and Harry Finch is a delightful four-year-old who has cerebral palsy.

When Derek heard Harry could get surgery in the US that would let him walk again, he decided to help.

Harry's own family fundraised more than $100,000 to get the surgery, but now Harry faces many years of expensive physiotherapy.

So, Derek - who spends his spare time helping others - did what he knows best. And that's build.

And that's why he's this week's ASB Good as Gold winner, awarded $10,000 to go on a well-deserved holiday with his kids. 

Ian Gare, who nominated Derek, told Seven Sharp Derek decided to build a couple of container houses, "the idea being he can sell those off to raise as much money as possible for the family, which I believe they're going to be using towards physiotherapy costs for little Harry".

Harry's father, Hayden Finch, said it's a hard work for Harry, "but he wants to walk everywhere".

The youngster's mother Bex Finch, added: "We used to just pick him up and carry him to the car. And now he's 'no, I want to walk'."

Seven Sharp's Hilary Barry surprised Derek with the news of his award at the site of the container houses.

"No way! Thanks, thanks.  I'm a bit speechless. It's fantastic. That's awesome," was his reaction. 

Derek paid tribute to others who chipped in to help with the project.

"A lot of these people don't know Harry, but they've all come in, given up their weekends and come and helped us out. It's amazing," he said.

"There's lots of Harrys out there, lots of other people that need a hand. If somebody can see what we've done and do the same, then that's job done," the generous builder added.

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