Stranger’s generous gift for terminally ill Aussie stranded in Mexico
A cancer patient and his pregnant fiancée will finally be able to return home to Australia from Mexico, thanks to a stranger’s generous donation.
Jay Morrow, a 34-year-old tradie with a fiancée, two daughters and another child on the way, was last year diagnosed with Hepatocellular Carcinoma, a cancerous tumour causing “agonising pain” that was cut from his liver, according to a Gofundme post.
Following chemotherapy and radiation, Mr Morrow was told he was cancer-free, however earlier this year, he received a shocking blow when he was told the cancer was back.
The GoFundMe was started to help get Mr Morrow to Mexico for life-saving treatments which aren’t offered in Australia. Amid the coronavirus pandemic he and his fiancée Bec Paton were granted permission to fly overseas.
Through GoFundMe, the money was raised to send Mr Morrow to Hope 4 Cancer Centre in Cancun and his treatment has been documented on a Facebook page, titled Jay’s Hope. Posts indicate the treatment was going well.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic with countries shutting borders and flights being cancelled, Mr Morrow and Ms Paton were left stranded in Mexico.
“His treatment is proving to be successful which is amazing news! He is doing great and has more tests in a couple of days to see if his tumour has shrunk even more! BUT sadly, its not all good news,” the GoFundMe says.
“Him and Bec are stuck in Mexico and cant get home. Because of COVID-19 a lot of countries borders are closed and there's hardly any flights available unless they pay $20k per flight so 40k in total and pray that it doesn't get cancelled.”
Appealing to people on Facebook, a post on Jay’s Hope reaffirmed the $20,000 each for a flight was not in their budget. Fortunately, a generous stranger helped the couple out so they will soon be reunited with their two girls who are still in Melbourne.
After seeing the couple’s story covered by Nine News a businessperson, who has remained anonymous, offered to pay for their tickets home and the couple were told the news on Triple M's Hot Breakfast with Eddie McGuire.
Before finding out a stranger had offered to pay for their tickets back home, Ms Paton explained she only had weeks left to fly back home due to her pregnancy.
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Speaking to the Today Show, just minutes after the couple received the good news, Mr Morrow and Ms Paton expressed their gratitude towards the stranger.
"There is no words for it. Everyone's been so generous trying to get me here, to get the treatment and then we had a GoFundMe page," Mr Morrow told Nine News.
"We can put a stop to them now because of this amazing person."
Nine News reported the couple has a business class ticket booked to Madrid, before flying to Sydney where they will quarantine for two weeks in a hotel, costing an additional $3000.
The. treatment Mr Morrow has received in Mexico seems to be working, and his doctor there is very optimistic he will soon be in remission, saying on Facebook his tumour has shrunk by 10 per cent.
“All my blood works are amazing. Tumour markers are down,” a Jay’s Hope Facebook post said.
“Normally tumour grows before it shrinks in most patients but mine skipped that part and just started shrinking. As long as I continue a strict home program my Dr is confident I should be in remission in 30 to 40 weeks.”
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