Lancaster man’s video message for tragic Conley Thompson seen by 100,000

Ryan Donaghey’s impassioned speech about the death of seven-year-old Conley Thompson has been watched more than 100,000 times.

Ryan’s emotional video clip encourages people to help raise £5,000 to pay for the funeral of seven-year-old Conley.

The little lad died after getting stuck in a pipe near his home in Barnsley, South Yorkshire last weekend.

Conley’s family have thanked Ryan, 27, for his support.

An online fundraising campaign launched by a woman in Barnsley has so far raised £2,400 for the family.

Conley vanished after playing in a park with friends on Sunday night.

He was reported missing and a major search was launched.

His body was found in a vertical pipe at a building site in Bank End Road, Worsbrough, close to his home.

Tributes were paid to a “lovely little lad” whose “smile could light up a room”.

Ryan, a self-employed DJ and events promoter, said: “When I heard about what happened to Conley, it just grabbed me.

“I have a seven-year-old daughter, Tia, and if that happened to her I wouldn’t be able to cope.”

In Ryan’s video, he says: “Not for a second can I sit here and say I know what the parents are going through.

“All I want to do right now is get hold of the family and get this video shared as much as possible and try to raise some money.

“Such a cute child who looks so adorable. Kids are kids and they don’t realise what danger they can put themselves in.

“I’m going to try to find a family member on Facebook and do what I can to help them out.”

After the video went out, Ryan said he received a message from Conley’s auntie Laura thanking him.

He also said he got a phone call from the boy’s mum Paula.

She told him how grateful she was for his support and invited him to the funeral.

“I will go to the funeral and I will try to raise some money locally, even if it’s just to take some flowers, to show that people care,” said Ryan.

The online appeal to help raise money for the funeral was launched by Barnsley woman June Bacon.

It can be found on the Fundrazr website HERE

As of Thursday lunchtime, Ryan’s video had been watched 103,510 times and shared 3,924 times.

Please note, Ryan gets very emotional during the video and uses explicit language, which we have censored.