'I Wept Over Losing My Olympic Savings to See My Son - Then the Unimaginable Happened' - OK! Magazine

A mum who had saved up to travel to Paris to watch her son in the Olympic Games was left devastated when she misplaced the money she'd kept, but generous well-wishers replaced it for her. Sheryl Sinden is the mother of Team GB's Bradly Sinden, who is due to compete in the taekwondo on 7 August.

Sheryl, 58, a school support worker, sadly misplaced £350 she'd kept for her trip to Paris while she was shopping. She said she 'turned the house upside down' as she searched for the money, and even shared photos of her empty recycling bin on social media after looking for the cash.

However, her daughter Jodie, 30, decided to start a GoFundMe page for her mum in a bid to replace the lost money, after people had suggested it to her online. Well-wishers have since exceeded the £350 target, having raised over double the amount so far.

'My mum would never have done it herself. She said it's her mistake and she didn't expect anything from anyone,' Jodie, a maths teacher, said. 'But because other people suggested it and people were willing to, I thought I might as well.'

She added: 'My mum didn't know I was doing it until after I'd done it and she told me off for doing it, of course. I did the GoFundMe page thinking if we get around £50 to £100 it's better than nothing. It's amazing how generous people are. I think it's a testament to the taekwondo community and the community of Doncaster, for people who would just put their hands in their pockets for someone.'

Sheryl explained how she had planned to get the cash changed to euros to spend on travel and food while in Paris. She admitted: 'I just feel so silly. I'm kicking myself that I hadn't gone to get it changed the previous week. What's upsetting me and annoying me more than anything is the fact that I cannot remember the last time I saw it.

'I have absolutely turned the house upside down. I've checked every drawer in the house, I've looked behind radiators, in the washer dryer and checked everywhere where I put some shopping away that day. I'm always misplacing things. Money, keys, phones, you name it, but they always show up. I've never not had anything show up.'

With the GoFundMe page having raised well above the target, Sheyl has vowed to donate the surplus to the charity SportsAid. The organisation supported her son Bradly when he was a junior athlete.

Bradly won silver at Tokyo 2020 - which was his Olympics debut - but due to Covid restrictions in place at the time, his loved ones were not able to see him compete. Sheryl will now proudly be cheering her son on as he competes in Paris on Thursday for Team GB.