Get The Murrays to England

We lost my father unexpecedtly on Friday 10th February. We're a transatlantic family - I live with my wife and family in the US, my late Dad, Mum and the rest of my relatives are in the North of England. We need funds to get at least me out of my US family to England for the funeral next Friday, February 24th.

It's been a long and difficult few weeks for us. Here's the story.

My dad was visiting us in the US this Christmas - as he an my Mum had done every year for at least a decade - when he accidentally took some of my Mum's bladder control pills. So he started retaining water to a painful level. This led to a visit to the Emergency Room, and I still remember the sweet smile on his face as we walked back to be seen, as he knew he would soon be relieved of his pain.

What happened instead was, as well as the quick relief from bladder pressure, the discovery of a host of problems with his heart. He was admitted to the local hospital. There he was quickly fitted with a pacemaker to cure his bradycardia. We joked that the pacemaker's lifespan would see him through to 99.

Yet there were other problems. He was transferred to another hospital where he was considered for a TAVR procedure for aortic senosis and they discovered he needed a triple bypass. For various reasons, it was decided to send him back to the UK rather than have the operation here. he was overjoyed to be released from hospital after two weeks, and we loved having him with us for an extra week while he regained his strength before heading home in late January. In the meantime we had the shocking news that my uncle Denis had died suddenly.

When Dad got back to England, it seemed to take ages for him to be seen by a cardiologist over there. He was finally seen last Wednesday and was told he didn't need to have the operation. He was so happy to hear that.

Then on Friday came the terrible phone call. He was gone.

We had been making plans for the family (me, my wife Kris, our daughter Helen [16], and our son George [13]) to go up to see him and Mum after Helen completed her exchange student visit to an English school in June. Instead, we need to get some or all of us (at least me, Iain) to England next Friday, February 24 for the funeral. My Mum has asked me to deliver the eulogy, so I will get there by hook or by crook.

We can just about cover the cost of one ticket, but it will wipe us out for the rest of the pay period, and living expenses will be an issue.

So if you can help us out quickly, we'd be very grateful. My wife Kris will be in charge of the expenses, and there's no-one better at getting value for money. We'll be looking to draw down the funds as soon as we can.

Thanks for reading this, and thanks for considering donating. Any little will help.

Finally, when my Dad was in the RAF, he used to be put on sentry duty at night from time to time. It was a cold and lonely job. The one bright spot was when the Salvation Army band would come round and play for the poor sentries. Although my father was a lifelong agnostic, he retained affection for the "Sally Bash" ever afterwards, and would give to them whenever he sw them ringing the bells outside American grocery stores. We will rpbably donate any excess money that is not used for travel or basic living expenses to the Salvation Army in his memory.

PS The photo of Dad is from a few years back. Like me, he wasn't a natural smiler, so my wife asked him to, in his words, "grin like an idiot." That's his fun-loving, Goons fan personality right there.