Heartbroken dad kindly buys a stranger a cake for her child to mark what would have been his late daughter’s first birthday

A woman and her sister had gone to collect her niece’s 1st birthday cake from a UK bakery, only to discover that it had already been paid for.

A heartbroken dad, who lost his daughter at just eight days old, surprised a stranger by paying for her child’s cake on what would have been his baby’s first birthday, The Sun reported.

Lea Ni Bhriain, from Derrytrasna, Northern Ireland, took to Facebook over the weekend where she shared the touching story.

A heartbroken dad purchased a stranger's birthday cake for their daughter to honour what would have been his child's first birthday. Picture: Facebook

She revealed that she and her sister had gone to collect her niece’s 1st birthday cake from the Windsor Bakery in Banbridge, only to discover that it had already been paid for.

Sharing a post of the two tier Peppa Pig cake, Lea wrote: “When I went to pay for it I was informed by the staff that an absolute gent of a man had come in earlier that morning and asked to pay money towards it due to it being his daughters 1st birthday today that had sadly passed away at 8 days old.

“He wanted to pay for some other little girl’s cake as he didn’t get the chance to pay for his own and had also left a birthday card for the child too from which you could only imagine left the whole bakery in tears.”

The card read “Dear Birthday Girl. In honour of what would have been my little girl’s 1st birthday I have chosen to pay for your birthday cake.

He left a birthday card for the little girl as well as paying for the cake. Picture: Facebook

“I am unable to buy my daughter a cake of her own today, but I hope you enjoy this one and have a fantastic birthday.

“God bless, Hannah’s Daddy.”

Lea now wants to find the generous stranger, to thank him for his kind gesture.

She continued: “I honestly hope him or his family don’t mind me sharing this on Facebook but I can’t get this man out of my head all day and how generous and kind he is especially on his daughters 1st birthday and he’s done such a lovely gesture for another person’s child.

“We would really love to return the favour to this wonderful man so I would appreciate if everyone could share this status for me in hope for us to find him or his family!”

Her post has received over 19,000 likes and over 8,000 shares as fellow Facebook users try and hunt down the kind stranger.

Commenting on the post, one emotional user wrote: “I’m in tears, so beautiful.”

“Awww my heart’s in bits” wrote another while a third said “What a kind gesture on what must be a heartbreaking day for him.”

In other news, we told you how a mum was left in tears after a stranger smacked her autistic toddler for gently pushing another kid.

While this genius mum’s traffic light clock tip makes her children lie in for longer.

This story first appeared in The Sun and is reproduced here with permission.