Can you help?

You may remember a recent post about our new friend Tasha Lynch, who is a very poorly lady living on the Costa Blanca. Well, can you help?

Tasha is suffering from three incurable diseases: hemiplegic migraines, myasthenic crisis and transverse myelitis. The latter two have caused Tasha major disabilities. If you don’t know Tasha’s story – you can read more about it here: Help Tasha Since that article was posted, Tasha has been through a couple of rounds of chemo and suffered several relapses.

By way of the fantastic fundraising of so many people, a special car has been purchased. The Peugeot Expert is now sat in Leicester… waiting for collection. This Peugeot will enable Tasha to get into the vehicle without having to leave her wheelchair – it will make such a difference to her life – and she’s already got enough to worry about what with her respiration machine and her chemo.

Last night (August 26 2016), Tasha’s Dad (Andy) posted a message on Facebook asking if anyone would be able to drive the new car to Alicante.

Our Alan loves a road trip, and when I mentioned it to him he jumped at the chance. So today, after a good chat with Andy, we have booked him a flight from Alicante to Liverpool (via Edinburgh because it’s that time of year when direct flights to England can be horrifically expensive) where Alan will then be able to get to Leicester. If all goes according to the plans we’ve put in action this afternoon, the new wheels will be in Alicante in early September…. around the 5th or 6th.

We will be providing regular “check ins” via the Spain Buddy Facebook page and the La Marina Gossip Facebook group, so that people can track the new van as it pootles along to Alicante.

But here’s where we need your help.

At the end of the day – Tasha needs this car and she needs it quick. So we wanted to get the ball rolling and make sure it gets where it needs to.

Although fundraising monies have been made available for the trip from Leicester to Alicante – the costs to get Alan to that point are already mounting up. The flight, the fuel from here to Alicante and more… well it soon mounts. This time of year is particularly expensive for flights. We’ve paid it just to ensure the car arrives… but it’s a lot of money. Some money has been made available by Andy – but again, we want to minimise any impact on funds already collected.

If anyone would like to help ease our financial commitment – we’d be thrilled. If we don’t manage to collect enough, that’s okay, we’ll cover it of course. If contributions go over and above our expenses… then any excess will be donated directly to Tasha for any of her ongoing needs. It would be amazing if all costs could be covered without impacting on any funds raised so far!

Andy is giving us a lump of money from the fundraising pot (which pretty much covers the ferry, fuel and tolls through France and Spain). But we really don’t want to use it unless we really have to. It would be wonderful if we can give him that money back!!!

We won’t make any money out of this ourselves – hey, even though it’s taken Alan out of the business for ten days…. I do love a bit of peace and quiet… just me and the dogs. So it’s win win!

If you have a spare €1, €5, €10, €20, or even €50 – please would you send it to us via PayPal. Here’s how.

• Go to www.paypal.com and log in as you normally would.
• Click on “Money” in the top menu and then on “Send Money”.
• Then select “Send money to friends and family” (so we can avoid any surcharges) and enter the email address tasha@spainbuddy.com
• Click “Next” and then enter the amount you would like to contribute and follow the steps as normal.

I’ve set up that special PayPal email so that we can accurately trace all contributions and make sure they go to the right place. We operate transparently, so Tasha and her Dad Andy will always know how much money is being donated.

UPDATE: A couple of people have messaged us because they don’t have PayPal. No problem! If you drop a comment with your contact email address at the base of this article, that sends us an email. Nothing gets published unless we tick a box – but then we will have your contact info and can send you bank details. Or you can use the “Contact Us” page link at the top of all pages on this website. Once a bank transfer is done, we will put the money in the right hands on your behalf.

There is more news coming too – which we will share with you as soon as certain conversations have been confirmed. If things go as we hope, then the impact on the funds already collected will be lessened further – enabling even more money to go towards Tasha’s day to day expenses and care.

Already, people have been rallying around to help in practical ways. Special thanks go to:

• Andy – who has been wading through my million messages and phone calls for the various bits of information that we need
• Alan – for being the best fella a woman could have and not minding one jot when I asked if he would consider doing this to help someone he has never met.
• Alan’s family for already organising ways for him to get from Liverpool to Leicester without worrying about buses or trains… and of course for giving him somewhere to sleep.
• Jon Hughes – for supporting and raising extra awareness of Tasha’s situation constantly, and ensuring that Alan and I have also felt supported while planning the journey while also offering to help find Alan a bed in La Marina tonight. Jon (and his good lady Jackie) runs La Marina Gossip Group and it is in there that we first learned about what Tasha is going through.
• Tasha – I think she deserves the biggest thanks for driving the rest of us to stop whingeing about minutae, and showing us how ladylike and brave she has been throughout her illness. She doesn’t always feel strong. She doesn’t always feel brave. But by God she won’t let that stop her from fighting. She can also rock a funky hairband like no other.
• All the many of you that have already dug deep to help support Tasha… and that continue to do so by making personal donations, organising events and much more. You all know who you are!!!

Donations and offers of help are still coming in – at this rate, not only has the trip been paid for in its entirety without impacting upon the existing fund… but we’ll be able to give it a nice boost too!!!

UPDATE AUG 28: Stu & Syb Bradley – the owners of Le Chant d’Oiseau who have very kindly offered a barbecue, a bed and a hot shower as Alan travels down from Le Havre through the Loire region of France on Sept 4.

UPDATE AUG 28: Phil Burch and the team at Exclusive City Breaks have pledged €0,50 from every booking until the end of September. Phil has been our Travel Agent of choice for a number of years now. Top fella!

UPDATE AUG 29: Brian McLean and his good lady, Nati Soriano, have offered to provide Alan with a bed and a hot meal as he passes through Catalunya on Sept 5.

UPDATE AUG 30: Brittany Ferries have contacted us today and agreed to refund the cost of the ticket for Alan and the van from Portsmouth to La Havre. We’re thrilled because this makes a big difference to the donation total.

UPDATE SEPT 2: We have today received a gobsmacking donation of €600 from one of our friends in Lanzarote – an amazing €600!!! Thank you so much Allan Day!!!!

Elle Draper

Elle, along with Alan, is the owner of Spain Buddy and the busy web design business – Spain Web Design by Gandy-Draper.
Born a “Norverner”, she then spent most of her life “Dann Saff” before moving to Spain in 2006. Elle’s loves are Alan, the internet, dogs, good food, and dry white wine – although not necessarily in that order.