Angus Young donates £11,000 to AC/DC fan's unique Alzheimer's fundraiser
AC/DC guitarist Angus Young has donated more than £11,000 to an Alzheimer’s charity after learning about a fan’s unique skating fundraiser.
58-year-old AC/DC and ice hockey aficionado, Steve McNeil, from Toronto has been travelling across Canada to skate for exactly 19 hours and 26 minutes in each of the seven cities that have teams in the National Hockey League.
The 19 hours and 26 minutes is in homage to his late mum who died from dementia and was born in 1926.
Whilst skating in freezing conditions, McNeil is also listening exclusively to the music of AC/DC in tribute to Malcolm Young who also had dementia and died in November 2017 aged 64.
The gruelling skating marathons have been receiving press coverage in Canada and beyond, and McNeil told CBC News that Angus Young and his wife Ellen reached out to him via their accountant after stumbling across an article online.
Angus donated $19,260 (approximately £11,191) to the Alzheimer Society of Ontario and requested for them to distribute the money to dementia music programs across Canada.
The Alzheimer Society of Ontario confirmed to CBC News that they had received Angus’ money and it will be used for music therapy.
Commenting upon learning about Angus’s donation, McNeil told Global News: “I was speechless. It’s going to help so many people. I’m 58 years old and I feel like I’m 18 again. I’m over the moon right now.”
While skating during the brutally cold Canadian winter nights, McNeil said he cranks up AC/DC and thinks about his mum’s good cooking to stay warm.
"It's like touching an emotional lottery. You've got to understand, this is what's been my driving force," McNeil explained to CBC.
"When I go out in these conditions, that's all I listen to because it's my tribute to Angus and the boys — because I know they lost a big part of their family."
AC/DC are rumoured to be recording a new album in Malcolm Young’s memory. Brian Johnson has reportedly confirmed he is involved with the project and (now deleted) photos emerged earlier this month hinting that Cliff Williams could possibly be back in the fold too.
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