Family want help to pay for dad's funeral

Darren Sargent, 48, died on January 21 from pneumonia, but unfortunately, with no savings or life insurance.

His three children and wife are unable to afford to give him a final send off.

Setting up a Go Fund Me page, his children, Brianna, 25, Shane, 27, and John, 21, are hoping to raise £2,000 for a cremation at Lower Ince. So far they have gathered £1,060.

Brianna, a mother-of-two of Atherton, said: “Dad died very suddenly. He was struggling to breathe and he was admitted to Bolton Hospital on Tuesday December 19.

An X-ray revealed he had pneumonia in both lungs and through the night he deteriorated quickly. He was in the high dependency unit and suffered a cardiac arrest in the early hours of Thursday.”

As he suffered from depression and epilepsy, Darren was unable to work and was on disability living allowance, which meant that he did not leave his family with much money to fund a funeral.

Brianna added: “I wanted to make my dad proud and give him a funeral he deserves. He was such a gentle giant. He loved his two grandchildren and was looking forward to another as my sister in law is pregnant.

“It is a such a shame he died at such a young age. It does not seem real.

“We can’t grieve until we get this sorted.

“I have had to sell some furniture to get some cash and luckily we have raised £800 to pay for a deposit at Ince crematorium. We did want him at Howe Bridge, but that is £1,000 more.

“But the community has been really supportive - I am so touched by everyone.”

To donate visit www.gofundme.com/hnjabw58