In Loving Memory of Yolanda Zapata

Dear friends and family, my  mother was a devoted, loving and caring wife, mother, grandmother and a tower of strength to our family. Her love and kindness extended to her friends who without exception loved her dearly.
Yearning to be with her family, my dearest Mother came to the UK in May 2019. This took a great deal of physical effort and financial as it is a long and expensive journey but to her nothing was too big or impossible when it came to family and friends. 

A few days after her arrival she began to feel unwell and seeing that she was getting worse, i took her to the hospital, where the doctors confirmed she had retained water in her legs, feet and stomach. After the draining process they did a scan to our dismay the doctors find out she had Pancreatic Cancer. As you would understand we were totally devastated! The mutual joy and happiness of seeing each other when she arrived almost marred by the dreadful news. As days went by her condition deteriorated because the cancer was spreading rapidly, she was not eating and losing weight, the doctors told us she could not have any treatment because by then she was far too weak to resist it.  Consequently my beloved Mother passed away peacefully on 17th  of July 2019.

My dearest Mother taught many people so much during her lifetime and more poignantly in her last weeks: she taught us courage  and stoicism to the point that all the nurses at the Homerton University Hospital and St Joseph's Hospice in London grew to be so fond of her. Always greeting them with a warm smile and gestures, like squeezing their hands to show them gratitude which overcame the language barrier. She asked me to give a rose and a card to each nurse and doctor, they were so moved by her kind and thoughtful gesture.  We learned from her that true love is more about others than ourselves, this we witnessed when my father arrived from Honduras. Although she was in a great deal of pain and she couldn't open her eyes, she did when she knew it was him and tried to touch his face but could only lift her arms for about ten seconds, which i could only imagine took every ounce of strength she had left. She died two days after my father arrived. 

Throughout her illness as i could not leave her on her own because she did't speak any English, I had to give up work and now having to deal with all the formalities, paperwork and other matters, have made it impossible for me to get any employment. My wife is the only one supporting the five of us three children and myself, her wages are quite low. 

I shall be forever grateful and indebted to all the people at St Joseph's Hospice & Homerton University Hospital for all their help and understanding on dealing with my Mother's  passing. Now her body is in St Joseph's Hospice but they are finding it very difficult to keep my Mother's corpse longer than they have already done so. As time goes by I'm under immense pressure to transport my Mother's body to Honduras, is where my Mother should be interred so that her husband (my father) all her family and friends have the opportunity to pay their respects and express their love for her and more importantly to grieve, specially my father who i am sure will have to endure his loss with great difficulty, because he has lost not only a wife but a friend of lifetime! 
As for me and my wife and three children the sacrifice of not having a physical place to ‘visit’ her and pay our respects will have to be the best lesson we will ever learn from her: to put others before us always. What’s left for us is to live forever with the memories of a lifetime specially of the quality time and the special moments we shared with her whilst she was in hospital which will be forever in ours hearts and minds and that will sustain us until we meet her again in Heaven. 

I now appeal to your kindness and the goodness in your hearts to help me take my mother home: to Honduras so that she can finally rest in peace!
Many many thanks in advance for your help. God bless you all!!