Race to reunite father and daughter
The family of a Napier father fighting for his life in a Fijian hospital is desperate for his 6-year-old daughter to have the chance to say goodbye.
Maddison Thompson doesn’t know what is wrong with her “daddy” — she only knows he is sick but is coming home tomorrow.
“My main concern is just being able to get [Maddison] to be able to say goodbye to him. I just need her to be able to do that,” Jarred Thompson’s former partner, Shannon Story, said.
She fears it “isn’t going to end well”.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen when he gets back to New Zealand.
“His flight back here is very risky . . . they don’t know if he will survive the flight.”
The doting 27-year-old father was on holiday with close friend Thomas Brook, celebrating the news that he was in remission after going through cancer treatment for the past year.
Part of the planned onemonth holiday was attending the Three Angels Missionary College, in hopes he would learn how to improve his health through nutrition.
But on Thursday, Thompson was admitted to Lautoka Hospital after what started as a headache quickly turned into a “potentially lifethreatening condition”.
After several days of watching Thompson slowly deteriorate, Brook made the decision to bring him back to New Zealand.
Hospital doctors said they would only treat Thompson with palliative care and suggested he be brought back home for treatment.
A Givealittle page was set up on Friday in the hope they could raise the $27,000 needed.
More than $33,000 has been raised and a medical evacuation team from New Zealand will take him out of Fiji on a commercial flight.
Story, who is still close to Thompson, plans to drive with their daughter to see him when he is admitted to either Auckland City or Waikato Hospital tomorrow.
“I don’t know how she will react to seeing her dad when he can’t respond to her,” Story said.“I think that will be quite difficult.”
She plans to tell Maddison more tomorrow.
“I don’t want to worry her or upset her before she actually needs to be.”
They have a strong bond. “He is an amazing dad. He loves her and she loves him.
“She’s a very resilient kid. My mum passed away this year too, and she was very sick, so seeing people in hospital isn’t anything new to her.”
Thompson’s mother, Donna Cameron, flew to Fiji on Friday evening, after finding out on Thursday that her son was in trouble.
“My heart just broke. I grabbed Jarred’s younger sisters and hugged them and cried,” she said, through tears.
“That’s not the news that you want to hear. It is very painful at the moment.”
Her stepdaughter helped finance the trip.
She is coping by spending as much time as she can with him.
“I am very anxious about getting him home, scared of what could come out of it. I’ve done so much praying in the last few days.”
■ To donate to Jarred’s cause, visit: https://givealittle.co.nz/ cause/get-Jarred-home