Magherafelt man Kevin McIlfatrick has been transformed into the town’s very own ‘Tootsie’ after agreeing to dress as a woman for a week to raise cash for little Katie Maguire.

By Connla Young and Mary K Burke

Kevin McIlfatrick hopes his ‘tranny transformation’ will get people to dig deep for the seriously ill youngster.

And the factory worker says he’d gladly put up with wolf whistles for the rest of this week if it means more money pouring into the Keep Katie Awake fundraising campaign.

Kevin, who works at the Agricultural Division at Creagh Concrete, says he’ll be keeping a close eye confused work colleagues.

“I expect to get a fair bit of teasing, and maybe even a bit of a grope but they are all sponsoring me so it’s all good,” he said. “I tried to think about doing something out of the ordinary – something to get people talking and to raise awareness for Katie , to do something different.”

And just to clear up any confusion, and unwanted attention, Kevin says his wife is fully behind the fundraising effort.

And the big hearted workman hopes people will dig deep to help the worthy cause.

“It’s going to be a hard thing for me to because I know people will look at me as though I’m not wise, but it’s not hard at all compared to watching Katie suffer and I think it’s great that so many people are doing so much for the wean, and I want to do my bit!”