You’ve set off on your dream holiday. It’s your first trip abroad since the pandemic, and the first time you’ve taken your children with you overseas. To say you’re excited is an understatement.

That was my brother Nicky and his partner Niki just last week. They had planned a dream holiday to Australia, visiting friends they’d not seen for a long time. Little did they know as their plane approached Brisbane that they were descending into every family’s holiday nightmare.

When Niki disembarked the plane her head was throbbing. A few hours later her temperature had soared to 43 degrees. Disoriented, in great pain and unable even to stand, Niki was blue-lighted to the hospital where over the course of the next two days she was tested, scanned and eventually diagnosed with bacterial meningitis: a dangerous inflammation of membranes covering the brain. Air pressure during the flight had caused a sinus in her skull to rupture, leaking fluid into her brain. Niki now requires surgery in Australia, after which she will not be allowed to fly home for at least two months.

Niki and Nicky didn’t expect to be staying in Australia for almost three months, away from work and family and with two young children to care for: Esmé aged three, and Arlo just one. We are setting up this Go Fund Me to support Niki and Nicky while they navigate this challenging and unexpected chapter of their lives.

Niki and Nicky are of course doing everything they can to cope by themselves. They have insurance, they’re getting help from friends in Australia, and Nicky is talking to his employer about remote working. But travel insurance only goes so far, and local friends can only do so much. It will be impossible for Nicky to work remotely full-time with an eleven-hour time difference while also caring single-handedly for Niki, Esmé and Arlo.

Their insurance will pay for their new flights, plus their accommodation costs, but will not pay for car hire, childcare, or living expenses for the extra time they may be away. This is what we hope, with your help, to raise funds to cover.

Any donation you can make will of course be hugely appreciated. And any money not used will be donated to the Meningitis Research Foundation charity.

Thank you for reading this appeal. Niki and Nicky, and their families, will be forever grateful for your support in helping us #bringbackthenickies