Single mum’s desperate fundraising plea after dad dies of cancer

A single mum from Bognor Regishas started an online fundraiser to cover her father’s cremation costs after he died of pancreatic cancer earlier this year.

Georgina Linnett-Newton, 26, needs to raise just over £2,500 to cover the cost of the service and print off copies of her father’s death certificate.

A full-time mother of two, she said she’s unable to raise the funds on her own, and has turned to online fundraising platform GoFundMe as a last resort.

“I don’t have that kind of money in my back pocket. I wish I did. I think we all wish we had that kind of money, but obviously all the prices have gone up because of Covid,” she said.

Her father, Ross Newton, died of pancreatic cancer on August 14, having lived with the condition since Christmas and surviving a bowel cancer diagnosis prior to that.

Ms Linnett-Newton’s mother died of the same condition several years earlier, a fact which has made the entire experience more difficult for both her and her two children, aged five and one.

Not only has she lost a beloved parent, Ms Linnett-Newton watched him struggle with a debilitating disease.

“He loved his sea-fishing and loved his shooting. He was a really active bloke, so for him to get sick like this was kind of a punch in the face,” she said.

“He loved his food as well, and for him to stop eating was really hard. Especially his Christmas dinners, he used to pile it up. It was like living with the green giant.”

Desperate to honour his memory, Ms Linnett-Newton said the success of the online fundraiser would ‘mean the world’ to her and hopes torespect her father’s dying wish by spreading his ashes alongside her mother’s.

“I just want to raise awareness about the cancer and obviously of the prices and the costs involved. When I did my mum’s funeral, it was only £4,500 for the whole service and cremation. That’s when people can actually turn up to the service and my dad didn’t want anyone at the service.”

To find out more about the fundraiser and donate to the cause, click here.