THE close friend of a dad who has spent almost two months in hospital following a horror car crash which took the life of his wife is attempting to raise thousands of pounds to support the couple’s young family.

Wayne Hawes, a father of eight, and his wife Zoe Hawes were involved in a crash on the M25 on February 4 as they travelled to celebrate her 40th birthday.

Tragically, Zoe died in the crash and Wayne has remained in hospital since.

After initially fighting for his life, he is now in a stable condition.

The Canvey couple have eight children and close friend Dan Sullivan, 41, is now fundraising to support the family.

Dan said: “Wayne is an incredible, outgoing, positive, and helpful father, I didn’t always see him in recent years but he has always been around for me.

“He is incredible and cares so much about his family, who are very close-knit. I know that Wayne would do anything he could to help me or others if they were in his situation.

“It was my idea to set up a fundraiser and I did it for the family. We are trying to get attention brought to it as right now, he has eight children who need feeding, bills need paying and it has almost all been left on the shoulders of his eldest daughter.

“The family are pulling together, and they are doing all they can at the moment to help Wayne.”

Dan added that he came to know Wayne through his brother, Bradley Hawes, who he went to primary school with.

Dan added: “When the incident happened on February 4, I saw it on TV and thought it was tragic. Then I got a phone call saying that it was Wayne I felt physically sick. Imagine if that was one of your closest friends, he might be one of the longest mates I’ve had in my life.

“This has also been a massive shock and incredibly difficult for his family.”

“The more money we can raise, the more can go towards helping his family and helping Wayne if he needs anything to help his recovery.”

You can donate to Dan’s fundraiser at https://www.gofundme.com/f/rebuilding-a-life-after-tragic-loss