WHEN Trowbridge cancer sufferer Dan Allen left the house for his first chemotherapy treatment, the last thing he expected to find on his doorstep was a wrapped box of Lego.

The gift was the first of many left anonymously by a wellwisher he dubbed the Lego Fairy for the 32-year-old, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in February, on the first morning of each chemotherapy cycle.

“On the first day of my first chemotherapy session I woke up nervous and I wasn’t sure what to expect,” said Mr Allen. “When I stepped outside I found this box with my name on it and I had no idea what it was or who put it there.

“The same thing happened two weeks later for my next round of chemotherapy. I quickly realised it was to keep me occupied in hospital, so we dubbed whoever it was the Lego Fairy.”

Mr Allen, who lives with his wife Nicky and daughters Freya, four, and Finley, two, in Christin Court, continued to receive Lego every two weeks throughout his treatment.

The mystery man finally revealed himself after Mr Allen was given the all clear, with his final Lego treat appearing on his doorstep at the start of his final chemo cycle last Tuesday (Aug 18).

Mr Allen found a wooden Lego fairy, with a large Lego head, sitting on a note from his best friend Ritchie Wilson, owning up and asking if he would be the best man at his wedding.

“I realised straight away that it was Ritchie as we are close friends and him and his fiancé Caroline often come round to our house as they live just down the road,” said Mr Allen.

“It was a lovely surprise to be asked to be his best man, as it wasn’t something we had discussed. I texted him straight away saying I would absolutely love to and they came over to ours after my session.

“I did think it could have been him at first, but when I told him about it he suggested we set up cameras to capture the person, which made me think it couldn’t possibly be him.

“He told me that each night he would come sometime after 10.30pm and would dress completely in black. If someone saw him they probably would have called the police.”

Mr Wilson told his friend that he would come up with new ways of dropping off the Lego presents, even using a contraption he made to lower it over Mr Allen’s fence from the main road.

“It amazed me that he came up with such an inventive idea,” said Mr Allen. “It was incredibly thoughtful and it has been great for the family, as the children love playing with Lego too.”

Ritchie Wilson said: “It was my partner Caroline who came up with the idea. We knew Dan had his chemo the next day and we thought it would be nice to give him a gift.

“We knew he liked his Lego and we got a parcel and stuck it outside his door and then it became a bit of a mystery, so we decided to keep it quiet. It just snowballed from there, really.

“After the first four deliveries, we had a get-together and Dan was really keen on finding out who it was, so I offered him my security cameras, which he luckily didn’t take me up on.

“I started to be even more careful then to keep my identity secret, and used things like bamboo sticks and large pipes to drop the Lego boxes into his garden, while I also turned my clothes inside out so there were no logos.

“I always planned on him being my best man, but when he found out about the cancer I decided to hold off asking him to avoid any more stress. When he got the good news that was the clincher and I thought that would be the perfect way to tell him.”

Mr Allen also suspected his father-in-law and other friends were behind the gifts, and told his consultant and nurses at the BMI Bath Clinic about the presents.

He then received more of the multicoloured bricks, when his employers Occam heard about the Lego Fairy, with Mr Allen kept busy with Lego Death Star and the Batman Tumbler sets.

“I told people at work and they had a whip round and bought me some Lego sets as well, even getting one donated by Lego, but I still had no idea who the original fairy was,” added Mr Allen.