“Captain Tom,” the U.K. veteran who raised millions for the National Health Service last year, has tested positive for Covid-19 and is currently hospitalized.
Sir Tom Moore was being treated for pneumonia and tested positive for the coronavirus last week, according to a statement from his daughter, Hannah Ingram-Moore. He was admitted to the hospital Sunday for “additional help with his breathing.”
“The medical care he has received in the last few weeks has been remarkable and we know that the wonderful staff at Bedford Hospital will do all that they can to make him comfortable and hopefully return home as soon as possible,” his daughter’s statement said.
He is not in the intensive care unit, according to the statement.
Moore made international headlines last year when he began a fundraising campaign to support the NHS in April, thanks to an idea from his daughter to keep him active during the pandemic. He pledged to walk 100 laps around his 50-yard-long garden before his 100th birthday, and initially hoped to raise 1,000 pounds ($1,244).
His fundraiser ultimately raised 33 million pounds ($41 million) for the country’s health service.
The campaign also earned Moore several honors, including a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. The queen, who turned 94 last year, met Moore in an outdoor ceremony in July at Windsor Castle to bestow the distinction. She thanked him for the “amazing” amount of money he raised.
Moore served with the British Army in India, Burma, and World War II as a captain, but was given the honorary title of colonel after his fundraiser.
Britain celebrated Moore’s 100th birthday in April with a flyover of two World War II-era aircrafts.
