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Family United

  • Family United

      21 November 2017

    At 3pm on Saturday J's daughter, son in law and 5 grandchildren landed at Wellington Airport and drove straight to the hospital to see him. It was lovely to witness their reunion. J hadn't met the youngest two before. Since then his health has gone from strength to strength. It is amazing to see how he has defied the doctors' initial predictions for his survival and recovery. He is a fighter. Perhaps hanging out for the family to arrive powered his battle.

    Thanks everyone for your help. We have some funds left over for their return flight next week (P needs to return to work), however we are still short so if you can share the link with anyone who may have wanted to contribute but didn't: that would be great. Or if you can contribute just about $10 more each, then the combined additions may build up to cover the full costs. (The cost of tickets both ways for all 7 will be around $4700) .Many thanks, Lynda

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  • Shout outs to...

      17 November 2017

    Special thanks to :

    - Sara from the NZ Consulate General in Melbourne who has been a great help with her kindness and supportive advice

    - Bill Kwan from HelloWorld Travel Agency in Porirua: Bill went out of his way to help with the flights and charge as little as possible. (Please consider visiting him if you need to make travel bookings in the future)

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  • Hallelujah!!!

      17 November 2017

    Tickets have been bought and in just 12 hours the family will be boarding a plane and heading home to see Dad. It's been such a mission to get all the necessary paperwork so it's such a relief to get this far. Thanks everybody. As someone said today: 'It really warms my heart to see how the village has pulled together to help our friends' .In this case the world is the village: we have had donations from a variety of places including the UK, South America and Auckland. I look forward to celebrating the reunification of the family tomorrow and of course for giving thanks for J's improving health. xxx

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  • Wow! - Almost there everyone!

      14 November 2017

    Thanks again to all for your amazing generosity. We are poised to buy the tickets for A, her partner and their 5 gorgeous children. We have enough for their tickets over here and are getting closer to return tickets. We continue to get incredibly frustrated with the slow rate of the bureaucracy in Oz. Despite our best efforts to persuade a certain Australian government department to rush the process, the paperwork only arrived in Sydney today. Hopefully the passports can be couriered back to Melbourne by the end of tomorrow and we might have the family on a plane on Thursday, or if not, Friday.

    The most important news is that J is improving really well! Thanks to all for their prayers, wishes, love and kindness. xxx

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  • Update Saturday 11/11/17

      11 November 2017

    It's amazing to see everyone's generosity. Thank you so much! W and her family have dedicated their lives to the service of others so it's lovely to see the support from you all to her, J and the kids.

    J is hanging on in there: he is a fighter.

    The bureaucracy in Oz continues to be too slow and of course everything closes down from 4pm Friday for the weekend. If we are extremely lucky we might fly out A, her partner and the 5 grandchildren on Monday night, but may not be til Tuesday. Love, thoughts and prayers to J to keep fighting and beat this. xxx

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  • Update

      9 November 2017

    Thanks everyone for your generosity! We're off to a great start. I've not included names in these posts to keep it a bit private: but donors will know who we're talking about. We have had some hold up with passports for the youngest two grandchildren (with the baby being only 3 weeks old) Both children need NZ citizenship to get a passport so it makes it very expensive. Mum of course not wanting to travel without the newborn. We've been trying to hurry along the NZ officials in Sydney. Wgtn Hospital were very helpful with an immediate letter asking for urgent passports at no extra costs.

    I haven't been in touch with the family today but last night J was doing well, certainly no deteriation: breathing on his own and uttering the odd word, and even a joke now and then. :)

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