Thank you everybody who helped!

Hi,

My name is Jill. My older brother Steve moved to Thailand in 2017. He was a professional Aerial photographer following in my Father's footsteps making his living with his camera.

He had plans to come home to the USA and was working on several different projects so he would have an income once he was back in the USA

We talked on the phone often and had plans to explore Maine with our cameras.

I last talked to him on Dec 21 2023, and he was excited about his new website he was working on.

I couldn't reach him on Christmas day which concerned me as we always called on the holidays.

By New Year's Eve still not being able to contact him, I was getting very worried.

January 4th, I got a call from the Thailand Embassy informing me that he had passed away.

They sent me more information a couple days later and included hospital bills that needed to be paid.

I was told to contact one of the funeral homes they listed and that they would handle everything.

It turns out I am not responsible for the bills, but the hospital will not release his body to the funeral home until they are paid in full.

This means I also cannot get a death certificate or follow through with his cremation etc

My husband and I are senior citizens and have a limited income.

We cannot afford the over $4000.00 in hospital bills in addition to the cost of cremation and having his ashes sent to us.

Steven had a Retirement Visa to be able to stay in Thailand.

In order to remain there you need to open an account at a Thai bank with a specified amount that must remain there as long as you live in Thailand

He mentioned that he had enough money to stay through the summer, but wanted to return as soon as he could to the USA.

Unfortunately, I cannot access his bank acct to pay for all these expenses without the death certificate. I will have to hire a lawyer in Thailand to file the paperwork needed to close the account and transfer the money to us.

It's like Catch-22!

We do not have the funds to pay the hospital bills and get the death certificate so we can tie up all the loose ends.

We need help coming up with at least the $6000.00 to pay off the hospital, funeral home and lawyers. Any little bit helps. I just want to bring my brother home and put his affairs to rest. My heart is already broken. I am feeling that we are being taken advantage of by the hospitals who have us over a barrel being so far away. I have put in calls to the Embassy in Bangkok and am still waiting for answers from them. I hope they can help in some way

Please help us if you can. It will be very appreciated

Thank you sincerely to all you kind and generous people who have contributed towards our goal.