Charity alleviating financial hardship of bereaved families has brought back to Ireland more than 1,620 loved ones who died abroad
“Kevin was a very popular man, he’d only been in New York 10 months but was very well known at home through sport and drama”.
“Then a young fellow from Sligo was killed in Las Vegas and we did the same, and it kept going. At that stage we decided we would make this Kevin’s legacy and we applied to the charity status in Northern Ireland to become registered”. While the cost can be a major barrier for most families who have to repatriate a loved one’s body from abroad – costs per repatriation can cost up to £12,000 depending on the circumstances of the death, local charges and hospital release costs – there is also a lot of “red tape”.
“We know now that he died from a massive stroke but it took almost eight months for the postmortem from Portugal to get to us. That was traumatic because he was repatriated to us but we didn’t know what had happened to him,” she said. But it was still a “lengthy” and at times confusing process, which “no family can be prepared for”, she said.“Portuguese authorities didn’t even embalm him. We didn’t see him, it was closed coffin, which added even more trauma for us. We got nowhere with the Portuguese authorities, it was a lot of red tape. Who knows, had it been another country it might’ve been a bit faster,” Ms Henderson said.“Garvan had a lot of friends, and people were coming down to the house all the time.
“All you want is your loved one home. Nobody wants to think about a loved one dying abroad, it’s your worst nightmare, but if it does happen, having the trust there to sort it out, or an insurance company, is half the battle”.
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