help my mum go home to say goodbye

this is not a situation i thought i’d be in but with some life changes and financial issues recently, i am asking for help.

my nan (doreen/nanny livemore/rusty) held on for as long as she could but after years of fighting has unfortunately passed away. as you can imagine, this is already a difficult time, made harder by the fact we did not get to say goodbye and have not been able to see each other in person for years.

my nanny livemore is one of the most inspirational people i’ve known. she fought illnesses over and over and over again and still came out the other side. when the cancer left her bedridden and she became depressed, she kept fighting. she was the only other person in my family i knew who had depression and she helped break the stigma to the rest of our relatives of what depression is and how it sinks into you. how it can affect anyone, whether you’re a grandmother battling illnesses unable to hold onto the joy in life or a teenager who has never felt more uncomfortable in their own skin as they face realities they tried to suppress. even though our worries were so different and we were separated by oceans, i knew we understood each other.

being separated from all of my family by a whole world has always made growing up hard. i would hear my mum up at 3am on skype & facetime before work just to be able to connect to home. my mum is one of the most sensitive people you will ever meet and this has always bothered her.

over the last few months, my mum has changed jobs twice and i have had my car suddenly breakdown and had to spend thousands to be able to keep it going so i can work. like anyone else, we made do. going to interviews every day, catching buses, walking, carpooling. however, the recent hardships have left us without much in terms of savings. my dad is a contract courier paid on commission and does not get paid time off.

if you have anything to give to help my mum go home for her mum’s funeral, any amount is greatly appreciated. she is not the type of person who can do this alone & in an ideal world i would be going with her but i don’t see this being financially feasible at this stage.

anyone who knows me knows i do not like to ask for any type of help, especially financial, so understand this was a hard decision to post this. but there are more important things than ego and insecurity.

if you can, please help my mum go home to say goodbye. anything amount donated will go towards flights and accommodation for the few days she will try to go home & funeral costs to help ease the grief and strain on my grandad. i do not expect to gather anywhere near the amount posted but use it as an opportunity to show how much it costs to send a daughter home to plan a funeral, as if that isn’t already difficult enough.

thank you for taking the time to read this. if you are lucky to have your loved ones nearby, hold them a little tighter for those of us who can’t.