Lamplugh woman receives birthday wish from 'wonderful' Sam the donkey

Caroline Ansell, will celebrate her 88th birthday on August 20, and is currently suffering from stage four bone cancer.

Her grand daughter Stefanie O’Brien decided to put an appeal to the community on social media last week to try and get a donkey to visit her grandmother on her birthday this year, due to her lifelong love of the animals.

After her appeal Stefanie received a huge number of replies and shares to try and achieve the birthday wish, being overwhelmed by the community spirit of people in west Cumbria to try and make the birthday surprise come true.

The family were absolutely delighted with the surprise. (Image: Supplied)

After being informed by a friend about Stefanie reaching out for help, Sara Chamberlin, who owns a pet donkey in the area, replied to the call, bringing Sam to Caroline's home yesterday, August 9 to visit the family in what Stefanie said was a ‘massive surprise’ for her grandmother.

Stefanie said: “Today we gave her a second birthday, like the Queen, just to make her feel a bit special.

“She said she has never had anything like this happen for her, she was speechless and said it was breathtaking.

“It was a massive surprise for her, she had no idea. We kept the curtains closed as the donkey was getting off the trailer, so it was a huge surprise for her.”

Speaking about the experience, Caroline said: “You should have seen Sam the donkey, he was lovely, it was wonderful, and it’s just so kind.

“It was a lovely surprise, everything was lovely. I wanted to keep him, I thought when he first come, he was mine to keep but it was just lovely.

“I was choked, I have always loved donkeys, I love all animals, I just loved him and my granddaughter was great. Sam ate apples out of my hand.”

The family have donated £100 to Hospice at Home West Cumbria as a thanks to Sara for her kind act in honour of Sara's mum Dulsie, who passed away from cancer.