Kind factory workers donated 3,300 hours of overtime to colleague so he could care for his leukaemia-stricken son, 3, after the boy's mother died

Andreas Graf, 36, had to take all his annual leave from his job after his son was diagnosed with leukaemia

A man’s colleagues have donated nearly 3,300 hours of overtime so he could be by his young son’s bedside as he fought leukaemia after the boy’s mum’s sudden death.  

Little Julius was just three years old when he was diagnosed with leukaemia and his treatment kept him in a hospital bed for the first nine weeks.

He was about to return to the family home, in the town of Fronhausen in the central German state of Hesse, when his mother died of heart disease. Andreas Graf, 36, ended up having to take all his annual leave from his job as an assembly worker with a design company in the nearby town of Marburg to be with his son.

Mr Graf, struggling to cope with his son’s illness and the death of his wife, was afraid of losing his job until HR manager Pia Meier, pictured, stepped in to help out. 

 Mr Graf, struggling to cope with his son’s illness and the death of his wife, was afraid of losing his job until HR manager Pia Meier stepped in to help out.

She sent out an appeal to Mr Graf’s employees to donate their overtime. And all of the company’s 650 workers immediately signed up – even those who had never met him. Within two weeks of the appeal, they had raised a total of 3,264.5 hours which the company allowed Mr Graf to take as paid leave, bringing tears to his face. ‘Without this tremendous help, I would’ve been out of a job by now,’ he admitted.

Ms Meier said she had also been overwhelmed by the response, saying: ‘There isn’t a single person who hasn’t donated.’

Thanks to the generosity of his colleagues, Mr Graf was able take more than a year off to take care of his son. After chemotherapy, Julius, who turned five at the end of February, is now feeling well enough to be released home and hopes to return to nursery school soon. Mr Graf says he will be eternally grateful to his colleagues and the company.