A MAN dying of Motor Neurone Disease received more than 1,400 cards for what may be his last birthday- and they are still flooding in.

Steve Hoggarth turned 47 at the weekend and his house is now packed with the cards sent by well-wishers from all over the world.

They included signed cards from the England Cricket Team, Colchester United, Sky TV sports Natalie Sawyer and Charlotte Hawkins of ‘Good Morning Britain.’ Now, they are strung all over the house, up and down the stairs and covering walls- and that’s just half of them.

Steve, who was diagnosed with the muscle wasting illness last March, had a dying wish to receive as many birthday cards as possible.

The father of Jason, 18 and Dani, 15, and husband of Cheryl also wanted to raise funds for the MND Association and St Helena Hospice.

Now, the former maintenance manager for Colchester-based Horizon Construction needs constant 24 hour care. Rather than being an able-bodies sportsman, training to be a referee, he is now wheelchair-bound and can only move his fingers and feet back and forth.

Steve said yesterday: “It’s absolutely amazing to have received so many. I haven’t been able to read them all yet. We had another 38 this morning. We have given the postman some birthday cake for his trouble.”

Many cards sent to their home in Perth Close included donations ranging from 50p to £100. Together they added £1,700 to Steve’s Justgiving pages, which have raised £5,000 for the charities to date.

Steve added: “It has uplifted my spirits very much so. I just want to thank everybody so much.”

Wife Cheryl called it overwhelming to have received so many cards.

“They are on the stairs, up the bannister, on the doors. They are hanging everywhere. But it’s lovely. It’s looks amazing. I found it very touching. There’s a lot of caring people out there. To see him smile, it makes it worth it.”

Brother Chris Hoggarth, from Mistley, said the number of cards was more than expected and agreed the number was overwhelming.

He added: “So many cards came with messages and nice letters.”

Next, Steve plans a charity football match as a fundraiser for St Helena Hospice and the MND Association.

His MND Just Giving page is at justgiving.com/fundraising/SteveHoggarth-MND47.

His hospice Just Giving page is www.justgiving.com/stevehoggarth-sthelenahospice47