Beautiful family needs help

I am writing this on behalf of two of the most beautiful souls, and my closest friends in the world, Laura and Ben Passmore. You know when you hear stories and think 'surely they have had their share of bad luck..' and then it just keeps getting worse and worse? This is one of those, and I can no longer stand-by not doing anything to assist with the financial burden that is currently upon them, completely outside of their control.

Let me paint a picture of the story this far and there is a LOT so I will try to summarize as concisely as possible..

Laura and Ben got married just over 10 years ago and a few years in, found their dream block of land and embarked on building a house. They moved in with friends (me!) and as many of you may have experienced, ran into substantial delays to build their house – but these delays ended up taking almost 3 years. In this time, they were having fertility treatment after struggling to fall pregnant, and Ben accepted a job working fly-in-fly-out to try to fund the IVF. In what felt like a lifetime, after 8 rounds of unsuccessful IVF attempts, they fell pregnant with little Lane. Some complications along the way and the house still not ready, Ben was also made redundant while they were awaiting the arrival of little Lane.

Ben started exploring purchasing his own landscaping business, and when Lane was 4 months old, their house was finally ready to move in. Things were finally working out, with the landscaping business underway and after just over a year, they felt ready to embark on IVF again to complete their family. More unsuccessful attempts, a miscarriage at 10 weeks, a dropped petri dish at the IVF clinic (holding an embryo ready to be implanted) and then Ben’s health started showing some signs of rapid decline. You see, Ben has suffered from Type 1 Diabetes since he was a little boy. He has been insulin dependent since diagnosis, and things took a dramatic turn, when around 12 months ago, Ben's kidney function rapidly declined down to less than 10%, which saw his body completely fill with fluid, resulting in having a heart attack at just 40 years old. Amongst all this heartbreak, Laura found out one of the IVF attempts were successful and she had a gorgeous little girl on the way. The universe works in weird ways..

Ben is now waiting for a pancreas and kidney transplant and undergoes 8 hours of dialysis per day. His has continued to try to work to bring in much needed income, but his health now stops him from being able to do more than occasional days. Laura is still on maternity leave, caring for her young family and ill husband, and they are now at risk of not being able to pay their mortgage. Ben is constantly in and out of hospital to this day, as they await the call up for the transplant. The transplant will also take time to recover, so financial concern for the near future feels like a mountain.

Remember how I said it just keeps going and going? Some bits I missed:

-          One car blew a gasket

-          Lane got diagnosed with hip dysplasia at almost 3 years old, with full body cast for 10 weeks and then brace for 6 weeks

-          Other car engine blew with $10k repairs needed

-          Baby Hadley also got diagnosed with hip dysplasia and required a   brace for 6 weeks

-          Ben tried to get Centrelink recently, but was told he isn’t ‘sick enough’

Please help by sharing this story, donating where is possible and sending loving and healing words and thoughts Laura and Ben's way.