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Pupil travels to prom in style thanks to doctor

28 June 2019

Dr Marwan Bukhari and Olen Howden

Pupils often turn up to their school prom in luxury cars but one young man went about it in a most unusual way.

Olen Howden, 16, a pupil from Ripley St Thomas Church of England Academy in Lancaster, had passed a stunning F-type Jaguar on his way to school for several months.

The car was always parked in the staff car park at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI) so one day Olen decided to leave a note on the windscreen asking if there was any chance he could have a lift to his prom.

Olen was surprised and happy to hear back from the car’s owner, Dr Marwan Bukhari, a Consultant Rheumatologist for University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT).

Dr Bukhari was only too pleased to help out and on Thursday, June 20, he met Olen and gave him a lift to the prom.

Olen’s grandmother, Svatava Hrazdilova, and his sister, Bela Howden, both from Lancaster, were delighted to watch him and Dr Bukhari driving off in the car.

Olen said: “I thought it would be a great prom car. It was amazing.”

Dr Bukhari said: “Olen is a very enterprising young man. He left a note for me behind the screen wash in a plastic bag. I was very happy to drive him to his prom.”

In return for Dr Bukhari’s kind gesture, the family has made a generous donation to a national arthritis charity. By coincidence, it was also national Rheumatoid Arthritis Awareness Week when Olen’s prom took place.

Olen said he now feels that he has given back to the community and his goal in life is to earn enough money to buy his own Jaguar.

He said: “I would like to thank Dr Bukhari for driving me to the prom and making me feel like I was on a race track!”

Svatava added: “Dr Bukhari is very kind. Olen is a lucky boy.”

Dr Marwan Bukhari, Svatava Hrazdilova. Bela Howden and Olen Howden