An eight-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl have been left orphaned after their parents died within four weeks of each other. Now, friends of the family have managed to raise several thousand dollars for the young children.
British mom Amie Walton had been in hospital battling stage four cancer when her husband Chris Mills died of a ruptured stomach ulcer while spending the night in hospital with his wife.
Amie, 30, had awoken in the hospital on July 18 when she discovered her 42-year-old partner had died during the night. The mom-of-two then sadly passed away just four weeks later.
In May, the mother was told that her cancer had spread and that she now had around 50 tumors in each lung, despite having undergone treatment, The Daily Mail reported. The late couple's children, Harry and Mia, are being cared for by Amie's mom, Tracey.
A local shopkeeper, Bal Singh, was so moved by the tragedy that he set up a fundraising page on Crowd Funder for the now-orphaned children. At the time of writing, it has received over $36,000 worth of donations.
"Amie was diagnosed with terminal cancer and fought bravely to the very end. Her devoted and loving partner Chris spent much time with Amie comforting her in every way possible. One morning after falling asleep together, Amie awoke from her sleep to discover Chris had quietly passed away during the night," the fundraiser's description read.
"The family later discovered that Chris lost his life to a burst stomach ulcer. Amie sadly passed away exactly 4 weeks later. Amie and Chris have left behind 2 young children Harry aged 8 and Mia aged 6," it continued.
A friend of Amie had previously set up a separate fundraiser while Amie was alive to help pay for her $41,000 radiotherapy, as it was not available on the British National Health Service.
Mr Singh's fundraiser is still active and accepting donations here.
Our thoughts go out to the family and friends of Harry, Mia, Chris, and Amie at this difficult time.