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Maltese Grandma Who Lost Everything In Hurricane Irma Desperate To Return Home With Grandson

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Karen Vella Freeman lives in the small British Virgin Island of Tortola. The 19km long island is the most populated of the BVIs, and was one of the first to be hit by the record-breaking Category 5 Hurricane Irma. Overnight, Karen and her family lost everything, and now, they’re desperate to come back home to Malta.

Tortola sustained wind speeds that exceeded 300km/hr for four straight hours, leaving a “nuclear-like devastation” behind. Karen, who lives with her grandson and family, literally lost half their home in an instant. Days later, another Category 5 hurricane, Maria, barrelled its own way to the British Virgin Islands, and is currently wreaking havoc on what’s left of Irma’s debris.

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Photo by Reuters

Now, a gofundme campaign is trying to help Karen and her family make the trip back to the Maltese Islands and re-build or replace the belongings which were all lost in the storm.

“We believe that if they are able to get off the island, a flight for the (5) of them could cost anywhere from $5-7k,” the page explained. “The loss of all their belongings would bring this fund up to around $10k.” The family friend who started the page, Aric Norby, donated $1,000 of his own, and soon, many more contributors followed. At the time of writing, the campaign had raised nearly $6,000, and soon, some positive updates were coming in. 

After thankfully regaining communications with Karen, Aric managed to arrange transport for her and her grandson Xaydin. “We recognized that some family members may need to stay behind to work through some ‘complications’, but we regained focus on the task at hand; getting Karen and her grandson out,” Aric explained. “The other family members are dedicating to completing a list of items prior to leaving, and we will continue to support them in all their efforts. We are certain that everyone will be re-united as soon as possible.”

After some last-minute complications with a planned boat evacuation which would’ve left Karen and Xaydin stranded on Tortola, one of her Facebook friends managed to secure two seats on a private helicopter evacuation flight. After safely landing in Puerto Rico, Karen and her grandson’s next mission was to finally make it back to Malta.

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Last Monday, Karen and Xaydin left Puerto Rico to London. “Ironically, my connection is Chicago, the windy city,” Karen said on a Facebook status.

While the pair thankfully made it safe and sound to London, the closest they had ever been to Malta yet, the complications were only getting started. 

“Apparently, we can’t get Xaydin checked by his team of doctors without a referral,” Karen said. Her grandson’s medical complications and some red tape, it seems, are the only things keeping the two from making it back home. “The word emergency holds no water. Britain is giving no kind of help. Just obstacles,” Karen vented on Facebook. “I’m scared to take him to any old doctor because only his team have his records. Also having difficulty with his passport”.

While the gofundme page still continues to raise funds to help Karen and her family rebuild their lost home and belongings in Tortola, the Maltese woman and her grandson still have no answer as to whether they’re going to be allowed to make the very last, much shorter trip from London to Malta.

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Featured Photo by AFP / Getty Images

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READ NEXT: Maltese Man In Puerto Rico Experiences Full Force Of Hurricane Irma

Lovin Malta's Head of Content, Dave has been in journalism for the better half of the last decade. Prefers Instagram, but has been known to doomscroll on TikTok. Loves chicken, women's clothes and Kanye West (most of the time).

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