Mr Alan A had been on the ZANE books for almost 20 years. At the age of 95, he had been living in one of the retirement homes for a very long time and the ZANE team had got to know him well. He never married and had no family but was loved by several friends, though most of them died some while ago.
Through ZANE he had been receiving a grant from the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Service’s League in recognition of his service in the British Army at the end of World War II, and ZANE made up the difference in his fees at the complex where he lived. There are many on the ZANE team who visited him and talked with him, listening to his stories and enjoying his company. He was almost completely blind but was never short of a smile and happy words.
It was with great sadness that we received the following report from one of the ZANE carers in Harare:
On Wednesday the 23rd of February, one of ZANE’s legends, Alan A. (95) fell and fractured his femur. He was taken into Avenues Hospital where he lay in casualty until an amount of money in USD was paid to secure a place in the hospital. Once this was covered by ZANE, the doctor on call advised that Mr. A required an operation to repair the break. He was moved into a ward and made comfortable.
My visit to him on Thursday was a sad one: he expressed concern for his forthcoming operation and whether he would come through it, while also worrying about how the expenses would be funded. I reassured him that ZANE/RCEL would do their best to take care of that side of things and that he needed to relax and be strong for his operation. A few days later the procedure was done successfully. However Alan was placed in ICU as his heart was struggling and a day later he died.
This gentleman had no family and relied solely on a very few friends, ZANE and RCEL. We will miss him greatly but, as he often asked us to do while alive, we would like to thank all of the generous ZANE donors who enabled us to make his declining years more comfortable and ensure that he was able to die with dignity knowing that he was loved and appreciated.
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Thank you – Nicky Passaportis ZANE Australia
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Any assistance is greatly appreciated and goes a long way to giving our pensioners a better quality of life and lift the pressure of money worries which is very debilitating emotionally.
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