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The Deal or No Deal contestant secretly given £9,000 by George Michael to pay for IVF treatment has travelled 400 miles to visit the late singer’s Oxfordshire home after vowing she'll name her baby after him.
It was only after George’s death on Christmas Day that Lynette Gillard, 38, learned the popstar was the anonymous donor who hoped to make her baby dreams come true after watching her appearance on the quiz show where she spoke about struggling to conceive.
Now, she plans to pay tribute to George when she names her child.
"We definitely want to include George's name as a middle name when we have a baby and we'll be playing his music while I'm in labour," said Lynette.
(Photo: Lynette Gillard/Mercury Press &)
Accompanied by partner Nathan Hart, 37, Lynette drove 400 miles from Westhoughton, Lancashire to lay flowers outside George’s home in Goring-on-Thames, Oxon.
"I am just so grateful for what George did. I will never forget it. He has completely changed our lives, and laying the flowers was a really sad day,” said Lynette.
“To do something so generous for strangers on TV - I just can't believe it. I wake up every day and think I'm in a dream.
"I was lost for words when we heard there'd been a donation eight years ago and I am still lost for words now.”
(Photo: LAURA SHEPHERD/MERCURY PRESS)
Lynette, a fitness instructor, had appeared on Deal or No Deal in 2008, where she spoke about her struggle to conceive. In a twist of fate, George was watching and phoned the programme to make an anonymous donation to a stunned Lynette.
She’d been undergoing IVF treatment since 2005 with no success and even sold her car to raise £15,000 to help pay for the procedure. Unfortunately, each of the five rounds of IVF were unsuccessful.
"I have had so many failed rounds of IVF. It is an emotional rollercoaster, getting your hopes up each time. When it didn't work I was getting so upset and I knew something was wrong,” recalled Lynette.
(Photo: GC Images)
Lynette added: "I was told I needed special blood tests to check my immune system to find out why it kept failing but I never would have been able to afford them without George.”
The expensive blood tests cost £2,500 each and revealed Lynette’s immune system had been attacking the implanted embryos.
"Now thanks to him I have these tests and next time the doctors are going to put me on steroids when the embryo is implanted,” said Lynette, adding: “He's given us hope.”
(Photo: Lynette Gillard/Mercury Press &)
It was Deal Or No Deal’s former executive producer Richard Osman who first revealed George’s gesture, tweeting after the singer’s death: “A woman on 'Deal Or No Deal' told us she needed £15k for IVF treatment. George Michael secretly phoned the next day and gave her the £15k.”
That was how Lynette discovered that George was her anonymous donor. She and Nathan had won £3,000 on the show, with George donating the other £9,000.
Touchingly, she has now discovered George shared a birthday with her own beloved mother, who passed away two years ago.
"I lost my mum in April 2014 and I miss her dearly. On Saturday I found out George was born on the same day as her - June 25. It gave me goosebumps and brought tears to my eyes,” she said.
(Photo: LAURA SHEPHERD/MERCURY PRESS)
"I know he has done a lot of charity work but it is strange to think he watched me on TV and felt compelled to help. I definitely feel like I have a connection to him."
George was 53 years old when he died on Christmas Day. His partner, Fadi Fawaz, has claimed he found the singer dead in bed that morning.
A post-mortem carried out last week was inconclusive . Thames Valley Police have said the death is unexplained but not suspicious, while the popstar’s manager has cited heart failure as the cause of death.