Charity joins effort to get terminally-ill mum Lindsey flown home

A FAMILY'S desperate appeal to fly a dying mum in Florida back to her Emsworth home has inspired a local charity to lend a helping hand.
Lindsey Gates with her husband Jason and children Brooke and CharleyLindsey Gates with her husband Jason and children Brooke and Charley
Lindsey Gates with her husband Jason and children Brooke and Charley

Pam Marshall is the founder of Hannah’s Appeal and was touched by the frantic call made by friends and family of Lindsey Gates in The News on Tuesday.

Mum-of-two Lindsey has just months left to live after being diagnosed with four inoperable brain tumours and was on a ‘holiday of a lifetime’ to Disney World, Florida, with her husband Jason and daughters Charley and Brooke.

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Friends and family had raised more than £12,000 to send the 40-year-old to the US but disaster struck when she broke her leg in a fall trying to get out of the bath.

While in hospital, doctors delivered the devastating news that her cancer had spread to her bones and lungs and that she would be need a special air ambulance to fly home.

Now, as Lindsey remains stranded in Florida, her family have appealed for help in paying for her £87,000 medical bill.

It is an question that Mrs Marshall, of Horndean, is keen for the city to answer.

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She said she wants Portsmouth to rally behind the appeal and is offering Lindsey and a her family a free break at one of her charity’s holiday homes in the New Forest when they get back.

She said: ‘The heartache that the family are going through right now must be unbearable.

‘They went over there for a little bit of quality family time together and now they’re stranded out there having to cope during such a traumatic time.

‘As a charity we can’t help financially but we really want to do whatever we can to support them all at this horrible time.’

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So far Lindsey’s family and friends have managed to raise more than £1,600 in a matter of days – but that is well short of the £87,000 need to cover the medical bills.

Pam, who set up her charity after the death of her 10-year-old daughter Hannah, added: ‘I would like to encourage everyone out there that can help to donate to the plight and get Lindsey and her family home.

‘I know the city of Portsmouth is very, very generous.

‘We have seen it before. Let’s see it again.’

A donation page has been set up by Lindsey’s friend, Rikki Wilson. To donate visit, gofundme.com and search: ‘Get Lindsey home where she belongs’.

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