Palliative care for my dying father

Hi, my name is Dimi Romero and I am fundraising for my very sick Father Yiannis Stasinos who is currently in the jail hospital in Athens.

Yiannis has been diagnosed with bone cancer (the most aggressive and painful cancer) and he is in a HUGE amount of pain. He couldn’t afford to pay his health insurance and is now facing an extremely horrible, painful terminal illness with no help or support.

The public healthcare system and hospitals in Greece will not be able to provide the correct care for my very sick father. He is currently in a wheel chair (shared with all the other prisoners), his left arm is broken in 4 places (they can not operate due to the cancer) and he is incontinent and wears a nappy. He’s only allowed visitors every Monday and Thursday between a two hour window and as long as they are family members (me, myself and I). He is not allowed any devises while he is in the prison hospital. Contact is limited which has made this even more stressful.

My father is too ill to travel back to Australia, if he was well enough I would of brought him back home to care for him myself. His home is in a tiny village up in the mountains (it’s called Kallithea) on the island of Samos. Going back there is not an option either, he has no one there to care for him and he can not walk up the steep paths and up the stairs to his little village cottage.

I recently travelled to Athens to see my father and to say good bye after not seeing him in over 20 years. When I saw the state he was in, I was shocked!!! He is usually around 90 kilos, a strong built man and now he would be no more than 45 kilos.

Yiannis has no family or friends in Greece to take care of him when he is released from the prison hospital on 21st June.

Today I asked him what I could do to help and he told me he wished to die in a private hospital where he can have the correct care and treatment for his last days on this earth. My father is a good man but has made some bad life choices that have led him to this horrible path he is now facing. Everyone deserves to leave this earth in a humane way not like an animal on the street.

I have been in Greece for 5 weeks now trying to figure out ways I can help my father and attend to his affairs, however I keep running into dead ends. I am a single mother with a 10 year old son with special needs and two teenage daughters. I work full time to support my family in Canberra and I now have to go back home to attend to my family and go back to work.

Everyone has a story and a why and a reason for the things they do and today I am swallowing my pride to ask for help before it’s too late.

The funds raised will be going towards my fathers dying wishes, which is to receive palliative care in a private hospital, in Greece, that is equipped to care for him during his last days.