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Coronavirus: 'We're Australian but we're trapped in the UK'
Sep 24, 2020
Last Thursday, Andrew Leslie, 52, woke up at 04:30 BST at his east London home for his mother's funeral. It was taking place some 10,000 miles away in Sydney, Australia.
Australia's strict coronavirus rules left Andrew, an IT worker, unable to get a flight home in time. He had no choice but to say a "surreal" goodbye to his beloved 92-year-old mum, Helen, via an online live stream.
"I really cannot describe the sadness and grief I've felt over the last few weeks, we always thought we were only 24 hours from being home," Andrew says.
When his mother was taken to hospital after a fall four weeks ago, Andrew and his wife, Anu, 49, searched for flights to Australia, only to find that by the time they could fly there, and finish Australia's mandatory two-week quarantine, they would still be "weeks too late" to see his mother.
Heartbroken at being separated from his mum and four siblings in Australia, Andrew and Anu recorded video messages for his sister to show Helen before she died.
Family hit with huge bill to visit dying father Australia virus cases 'set to be lowest in months' Australia orders all arrivals to self-isolate
"We told her how much we loved and missed her, and talked about some of the happy memories we'd had together," he says.
After a "very emotional" funeral, Andrew is still struggling to come to terms with his mother's death. "I don't know if we've really dealt with it from here, it just feels too detached".
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