Veteran Herbert Phillips ❤️

Hi, my name is Jodie Phillips and I'm trying to raise as much as possible so I can give my amazing grandfather the funeral he deserves.

Grandad was a baby with his mother

Grandad as a young boy

My grandad was 94, a twin & 1 of 10 siblings. Born in 1927 in Grimsby hospital and later passing away in 2022 in Whitehaven hospital, leaving just 1 sister living, who is now 100!

Grandad & his siblings

Grandads medals

Joining the army, as a young boy, in transport, he travelled all of Greece, risking his own life, to keep the Greek civilians safe. He even chauffeured the King of Greece, at the time, during his time there.

My grandad was a very fit man who loved his sport. He received many medals in the army for boxing, diving and many other sports. He lived life to the full & was always popular with the ladies.

The most amazing thing, is not only did he fight for his country, work hard all his life & live a good, Christian, honest life, but he very nearly died trying to rescue people drowning.

Receiving his award

It was such a traumatic event & the people lost their lives. Grandad still cried to this day remembering it. For his bravery he received a Queens commodation, 2 little leaf pins.

He went onto live his life, adopting two beautiful children with his wife but unfortunately my Nanna died in 1996 of cervical cancer & Grandad was a broken man.

He dragged himself back up & made a life for himself in Cumbria, where he's been ever since.

In the last couple of years of his life we discovered Grandad had bladder cancer. Looking back on his medical records, his partner, who was actually his full time carers at the time, had known about it & done nothing. She left it to grow in the hope Grandad would pass away. Instead, I took charge, me & my mum fed him well, brought his strength back up, exercised with him & got him fit enough for an operation to remove the cancer.

Grandad was amazing and recovered quickly. He really was a strong man. However one night he was rushed into hospital. Grandad had sepsis and his body was weak, the hospital told us his death could be any second & put Grandad on end of life care (basically stopped all antibiotics, fluids, medications and food.)

Standing next to my Grandad, thinking he could die any second, I kissed him & he kissed me back. He was responding & improving. I gave him a drink & he even ate a full yogurt himself, he wasn't ready to die, he was strong, with the help of antibiotics and his usual medications I genuinely believe he would of loved but instead we watched him waste away to nothing and slowly die while they pumped him full of morphine. Which is a strange one, as he wasn't worth antibiotics or anything to help him fight this infection, but they're happy to give him morphine all day?

It was horrific! Then one day a lovely consultant for pallaitive care popped into our room, on the off chance. He had no idea about my Grandad, who he was or even that he was supposed to if been under his care. Straight away, Grandad was moved to a fantastic end of life ward.

Grandad died, holding mine and my mum's hand, in a lovely room, with lovely staff & in no pain or discomfort. Grandad was put on end of life too soon. The doctor saw his age being 94, a decline in Grandads health & immediately put him on end of life care. Grandad survived another week. He was a fighter, he loved life & he loved us. A true Gentleman has gone before his time.

Now the time has come for the angels to take Grandad back home. Grandad wasnt a man of money, he was brought up when times were hard & money was right. He didn't spend his money on expensive jewellery or cars, he spend his money on living. He travelled EVERYWHERE and had a damn good time doing it. He spent his money on happiness & enjoyment.

I had no idea the costs of funerals, I've never lost a loved one so close before. We're not a family full of riches, we don't pretend to be. I'm 30 years old, have MS & my income isnt very high. Grandad hasn't left a big inheritance behind and I'm trying to raise as many pennies as I can selling odds and ends.

The total cost for my Grandfathers funeral is £5000. This is for a cremation (obviously Grandad will continue to travel with me ), beautiful black horses & carriage & small extras that were needed.

My grandad was a hero. A world war 2 veteran, an absolute gentleman & gave so much for everybody else, this is the one thing I hope I can give back to him, with your help ❤️