Please help Marta & Igi reunite with their family

Hello everyone,

Like for so many of us, the past few years have been extremely difficult for our family, not being able to see many loved ones for so long now. My wife, Marta, was last at home in Poland 4 years ago when she was pregnant. So far, none of her family or friends has had the opportunity to meet our son, Igi, in person due to covid.

Our parenting journey started quite traumatically due to horrible feeding and sleeping issues, the pandemic and then in mid-2020, following some concerns we had about some of his health markers, Igi was diagnosed with a very rare and life-threatening genetic metabolic disorder called Tyrosinemia Type 1.

Since then, he has been on life-saving medication and a very special low protein diet, followed up by regular medical checks and procedures.

Marta has been very homesick since she gave birth over three years ago, especially following Igi's Tyrosinemia diagnosis. Since no one has been able to come out to Australia, she has been desperate to finally introduce Igi to his family and her close friends in Poland.

She also dreads the thought that she may not get another chance to see her beloved grandfather, whose health is deteriorating quickly. She would love nothing more than to show him his first and so far only great-grandchild before it's too late.

We’ve been waiting and slowly losing hope about that chance finally coming... until now. Thanks to recent crucial regulatory changes in the border policies of both countries, we have a unique and limited opportunity to send Marta and Igi to Poland at the end of May.

Many stars have aligned for us. We've managed to get an extended supply of Igi's medication for a couple of months, Europe is heading into summer and Marta and Igi wouldn't have to go through hotel quarantine upon return to Australia if they're back before August.

The only pin that hasn't fallen into place is the financial one. Things are definitely improving for us but work opportunities have been very minimal for us during covid and managing Igi’s condition has seemed like a part-time job. As a result, we haven't got the savings to buy flight tickets at the moment.

So we are asking for help. We would really appreciate receiving anything you could spare to help get Marta and Igi on a flight home (and back!). Every little bit will add up, so we're optimistic that if we can get this page to enough people we will have enough funds to turn a 4 year fantasy into a reality. Flight prices have increased a lot thanks to covid so we are looking at a cost of about AUD 4000 to $4500 for a round trip for both of them. We are hoping to raise at least part of that money.

If you don't have enough to spare (trust us, we've been there), if you could please share this fundraiser, that would be a great help.

Lastly, if you’re living outside Australia or you’d like to contribute directly or through different means, please get in touch and we’ll try to arrange the best way to transfer etc.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for your support,

Love

Connor, Marta and Igi