Bereaved Limerick family present €9,000 cheque to Trust
A LIMERICK family who lost their 28-year-old father, son and brother have given back to the charity which helped bring him home after he passed away while abroad.
Kevin Hogan from Caherdavin died suddenly while on holiday with friends in Albufeira, Portugal on April 13 this year.
Upon learning the tragic and truly heartbreaking news, his family were left in limbo, wondering what to do in such an egregious crisis.
“When we got the life-changing phone call, we stood in the kitchen numb and just hadn’t a clue what to do,” said Amanda Hogan, the late Kevin Hogan’s mother.
“We found out about the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust (KBRT) when someone mentioned them. We rang their helpline and that was it - they took over from there and got our Kevin home to us.”
KBRT aims to “alleviate the financial hardship of bereaved families repatriating the body of a loved one”.
Being abundantly grateful for the Trust’s assistance in bringing Kevin home to his family to be buried, the Hogans were awaiting an opportunity to meet the man who started KBRT - a bereaved father who lost his son, also named Kevin, in June 2013.
“Kevin Bell’s father, Colin Bell, came down to Limerick to meet us in the Greenhills hotel. I really wanted to meet the man and present him with something in return, after all he has done for us.
“We have similar stories to share, so it was nice to meet him finally.”
The family raised €9,335 and Kevin’s 8-year-old daughter, Aoibhinn, presented Colin Bell with the cheque and he was “truly delighted”.