Woman stranded in Australia after fiancé dies on Xmas Day days before wedding
A woman has been left heartbroken after her partner died on Christmas Day - just three days before they were due to tie the knot.
Donna Jones, 50 and her fiancé Jeff Walker, 57, got engaged six years ago and were due to get married in 2020, but were forced to change their plans due to the coronavirus pandemic. But after setting a new wedding date, the couple were hoping for the "holiday of a lifetime" when they left Manchester Airport in December.
Sadly on December 22, during their flight from Dubai to Perth, Jeff became poorly very quickly and collapsed outside the plane's toilets. After landing in Australia, he was immediately transferred by ambulance to Royal Perth Hospital.
The evening before Donna, Aaron and Jeff flew from Dubai to Australia (Lancs Live/MEN Media)Five hours later, he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, reports LancsLive. On Christmas Day, he died in hospital.
As Jeff's son Conner lives in Australia, the family held a cremation and funeral in Perth following his death. It meant they were unable to make their original return trip from Sydney in time. Now, Donna says she has been stranded in Australia after Emirates Airlines dialled back on a promise to switch their flights home to Blackpool.
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Still in Australia, Donna said: "We got the flight at 1.30am, the day before he was swimming on the 42nd floor in an infinity pool, we went on a desert safari. He was eating and drinking normally, he was just tired. Obviously, with the time differences we were all tired so none of us really thought anything of it."
She added: "We were supposed to come three year's ago to see his [Jeff's] son, but obviously Covid stopped that from happening... His son came home last Christmas, so we decided we were going to go out this Christmas. We just decided in the summer, 'that's it, we're going to get married whilst we're there'."
A date was set and on December 18, 2023 the couple, as well as Donna's 14-year-old son Aaron, flew out from Manchester and spent three days holidaying in Dubai. Other than lethargy, Donna says Jeff had a cold a few weeks before he was taken ill but largely, he appeared to be in perfectly fine health. Four weeks before flying out, the dad even swam 10k in a day to raise money for cancer after his cousin's nephew died from leukaemia 20 years ago.
As a nurse, Donna realised her fiancé's oxygen saturation level had dropped down to around 55-57 when he collapsed on the plane to Perth. The normal level should be around 95-100.
Initially, she thought Jeff was suffering from a pulmonary embolism, adding: "His oxygen levels were so low, he was breathless and his legs were starting to swell up. So I suspected he had a blood clot in his lung or something."
After collapsing on the plane, Jeff was transferred off the aircraft and taken by ambulance to Royal Perth Hospital. Five hours later, he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia.
"I was devastated," Donna recalls. "They just told us he was very poorly and they were going to take him straight to intensive care.
"At that point, they asked us to get the marriage celebrant to the hospital to get us married as soon as possible. They told us to go out and enjoy Australia and to give my son the best holiday he could have. Nobody actually gave us a timescale, they just said it was serious."
The family in Dubai 13 hours before flying to Perth (Lancs Live/MEN Media)For the following three days, Donna says Jeff was his usual self, "very happy" and chatty. Their friends visited Jeff in the hospital, where they laughed, joked and enjoyed each other's company.
Jeff even got told off by medical staff for "talking too much" as his oxygen saturation levels were dropping. Donna continued: "He was always happy, always wanted the best for everybody. He did so much charity work, unannounced, he just quietly did it.
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"He helped feed the homeless, even getting bus tickets and whatnot to send people back home to where they lived because they were in bad situations. He raised money for the RNLI. He just spent his life doing what he could to help other people."
A day after being admitted to the hospital, Jeff began struggling with a CPAP machine - therapy designed to help a patient deliver constant and steady air pressure to breathe whilst they sleep. As a result, it was decided that he'd be sedated and put on a ventilator - but this turned out to be the last time the family was able to speak with him.
Two days later on Christmas Day, Jeff died in hospital. Jeff and Donna were due to get married on December 28. Now, the nurse faces a different kind of struggle.
Flights were booked to travel home on January 9, with a route taking them from Sydney to Singapore, via Dubai and back to Manchester with Emirates. Following their change of plans, Donna says she was assured by the company her flights were transferred so she and her son could fly back home from Perth, instead of their original departure from Sydney.
Donna explained: "We just had to let them know before we were due to fly with Emirates from Sydney to Singapore on the 9th. They said to let them know before then if we needed to transfer the tickets and fly from Perth. They agreed and said they'd full refund Jeff's ticket which, at the time, I wasn't even thinking that. I was just thinking of getting home from here [Perth]."
But calling the airline before the flight date of January 9, Donna said Emirates refused to speak with her "as the booking was done through a travel agent". Donna then had to stay up until the early hours of the morning but was told to wait while the company in turn waited for a response from Emirates.
The woman also tried to get Jeff's son, Conner, back to the UK with her so the family could have a ceremony and spread his ashes at home. The nurse wanted to change Jeff's name on the booking to Conner's, but she said Emirates "completely refused it".
Eventually, she heard back from the airline on January 8 - the same day of Jeff's funeral. On that day she was told it would cost a further £1,300 to get home and an additional £1,700 for Conner to fly home with them, despite paying £9,200 for their original flights.
"Months ago we had already paid, depends which way you look at it now, but the holiday of a lifetime of getting married," Donna said. "We had already paid out around £20,000. We had £5,000 to spend over here, whilst we were here to do everything and really make it special for all of us. Of course, that money's gone now on having to have him [Jeff] cremated."
Donna is now waiting for Jeff's death certificate to arrive before she is able to make arrangements for her journey back to the UK. She has been told she will be able to fly from Perth to Sydney and possibly fly home from there, with the four-hour flight cost kindly being compensated through JetStar, an Australian airline.
A spokesperson for Emirates Airlines told LancsLive: "Emirates considers each customer situation and conducts a thorough review for each individual case. Due to the unforeseen and difficult circumstances the family has experienced, our team has contacted the passengers and is working to accommodate their needs.
"Our passenger support team has also been in touch with the family to provide additional assistance." The Mirror has contacted Emirates Airline for further comment.
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