Family stranded in Japan need half a million dollars to get son home

A family who just wanted to give their children a wonderful holiday are facing a shock $500,000 bill to get home.

An online fundraiser has been set up for Australian couple Brad and Mel, who are described as facing a “parent’s worst nightmare” after taking their family on a trip to Japan.

Their 18-year-old son, Ryan, is “absolutely obsessed” with Mickey Mouse, and visiting the Disney theme park in Tokyo, Japan, was meant to be the trip of a lifetime.

“But what started as a magical family adventure has turned into a heartbreaking and frightening situation,” fundraiser organiser Janelle Goulding wrote in her post.

Ryan, who has autism, had travelled in planes without any issues before, but in Japan he developed an “acute and overwhelming” fear of flying, Goulding said.

“His distress is now so severe that he is unable to board a commercial aircraft to return home to Australia,” she wrote.

“The family has been advised that Ryan will need to be sedated and transported home on a specialist medical flight.”

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This would cost the family $500,000, according to the fundraiser.

Brad and Mel made the heart-wrenching decision to send their other children home to live with their grandmother, as the family’s costs mount in Japan.

“Every additional day in Japan brings mounting accommodation, food and living expenses,” Goulding wrote.

“Their funds are limited, and the enormous upfront cost of medical transport is simply beyond their reach.”

As Brad and Mel search for a way to reunite their family, the fundraiser asks “friends, family, the autism community and anyone who can find it in their heart” to give what they can to support them.

Goulding says in her post the money raised will go towards the high-cost specialist medical transport to bring Ryan home, and accommodation and living expenses while he and his parents remain in Japan.

“Brad and Mel aren’t asking for anything extraordinary,” Goulding wrote.

“They simply want their son home, safe and surrounded by the people who love him.”

The fundraiser has so far raised over $40,000.