End-of-Life Loving Care for Brent "Smiley' Morris

Brent Morris is a beautiful, humble, soulful man whose life and contribution to the world has been cruelly cut short by Motor Neurone Disease.

Please help Brent spend what time he has left surrounded by his loving family.

Known by many as ‘Smiley’ because of his constant beaming disposition and ‘Tiger’ because of his love for the Richmond Football Club, Brent was diagnosed with aggressive MND, aged 55 on 4 February this year. He and his partner of 25 years, Lois, had only recently left his hometown of Warragul in Gippsland, Victoria, to travel to Mandurah on the outskirts of Perth to be closer to Lois's daughters and grandchildren.  Newly semi-retired, they towed their new caravan from Victoria to WA but just weeks later decided to fly back to Warragul, as Brent's health deteriorated, to be with his ailing mother, siblings, nephews, godchildren and lifelong family friends who all still live in the town in which he was born and bred. Brent’s mum Sue, who had cancer, died in Warragul in April 2021, soon after Brent and Lois arrived.

Brent's terminal illness has progressed so rapidly that he is now too ill to return to WA. He and Lois are currently staying in the family home of two dear friends, where he is being cared for 24-hours a day by Lois and receiving palliative care.

Brent's Perth-based stepdaughter, her partner and three grandsons have now followed them to Warragul and are paying $1250 a week to rent a caravan close to where Brent and Lois are staying in the country town.

All the family want at this harrowing time is to be together under one roof for the short remainder of Brent’s life, which requires financial assistance. Affordable accommodation is impossible to find, with the added stress of lockdown restrictions which also prevent the family being together.

Brent has been denied his wish to seek Voluntary Assisted Dying because he spent some of the past 12 months in Western Australia and seven of the past 12 months in Victoria. Victorian law states that to qualify for VDA, patients must have lived in Victoria for 12 months. The irony is that Brent has spent most of his 55 years in his birthplace, Victoria. He and his family are not only trying to cope with this end-of-life choice setback and all the pain associated with the disease, they are unable to be together day in and day out because they can not afford temporary rental accommodation (as well as all their regular bills) that is big or comfortable enough to enable them to be under one roof.

Please help Brent, Lois, daughter Tara and partner Damien, and grandchildren Max, 8, Axel, 6, and Jax, 1, to live together for the short time they have left as a family and farewell their beloved Poppy in peace.