Please help Cat get home for her mom's funeral: Cathy Carr

Catherine ‘Cat’ Carr moved to Australia from America almost ten years ago to live with me. In all that time, she's only been able to return home to the US once, although she deeply misses her family and friends. We'd originally planned to visit the US when COVID hit and interrupted everything (so obviously that didn't happen), and this year we'd made new plans to visit her family in 2025 – already a long-overdue visit.

However, yesterday – 14 September 2024 – Cat’s mother, Cathy Carr, passed away in hospital. It was unexpected, and came after she fell at home. Naturally, Cat is devastated at losing her mother so suddenly, and desperate to get home for the funeral (Cat is Cathy's only child, although Cathy helped raise five stepchildren when she married Cat’s father, Tony).

Cat is a highly talented, strikingly intelligent, and gorgeous woman. She's an amazing stepmother to my two kids, and the undisputed love of my life. Her laugh and smile light up the room. She amazes me with everything she does. Her mind and her heart surprise me daily.

Her care for my kids as they've grown up has been a class act in teaching self-determination, courage, love, acceptance and compassion. For almost a decade, Cat put me and my children first, helping us deal with my divorce and the interstate move of my children's mother, exhibiting values instilled in her by Cathy's example of raising six children – teaching them, advocating for them, and loving them. And now Cat needs to be prioritised at a time when I'm unable to buy her the flight home she deserves.

Last-minute international flight prices are high, as are emergency passport renewal fees. Cat needs time in the US to support her dad and help go through her mom’s things. She wants to grieve with her family, and do her share of handling Cathy's end-of-life arrangements. After not seeing Cathy in over seven years, Cat's devastated she won't be able to hug her mother again.

There's nothing I wouldn't do for Cat, and seeing her so upset about her mom's passing, knowing we don't have the money to send her home for the funeral, is truly heartbreaking for the whole family, both here and abroad.

So I'm turning to you – our extended family, close and distant friends, and even total strangers – anyone who might be able to assist.

The funeral will be held in a week or two, and it would mean a great deal to both of us if Cat could be there.

To anyone who can help us out, even just a little, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.