Fundraiser for family of ‘amazingly caring’ father and husband from East Sussex who died unexpectedly

Anthony Kerr, 62, from Plumpton, passed away at home on Wednesday, October 16, at the age of 62.

His daughter Megan, 25, from Worthing, said Anthony was the sole carer to his wife Linda, 56, so she has set up a GoFundMe page at www.gofundme.com/f/help-with-funeral-costs-anthony-kerr to help with funeral costs.

Megan said: “My mum suffers with lifelong disabilities due to a stroke at birth where she was left with cerebral palsy. As she has got older she has become less independent.”

Megan said her father helped Linda with daily routine tasks, including getting dressed, cooking and cleaning.

She said: “He was also in charge of handling medical appointments and picking up her medication and dealt with any finances. He did this for the past 30 years and even up to the afternoon of the day he died.”

Megan described her father as ‘an amazingly caring person’, adding: “If you interacted with him then he’d always remember you.”

She said: “He was mental but in the best way possible. If you knew him then you’d giggle at that.”

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She continued: “Myself and my brother consider him our best friend. He would always check in with us, make sure we knew he was there for us. He knew that being with our mother would mean a huge sacrifice to his daily routine and that never put him off spending the rest of his life with her. As well as us, he loved his three pets. He had a dog called Lou and two cats, Domino and Stussy, whom he cherished.

“Since the news of his passing, myself and my brother have been bombarded with messages from our own friends that have expressed how they felt he was a friend of their own or like a second father to them due to his character, and how much he put into looking after those around him and around us.”

She said: “Overall, we couldn’t have asked for a better man to call our dad, only that we wished we had more time to share more laughs with.”

Megan said she set up the fundraiser because the unexpected nature of her father’s death meant there were no prior arrangements in place or plans to cover upcoming costs.

Since the fundraiser went up on Tuesday, October 22, it has raised more than £800 or its £1,000 goal. Megan said: “I honestly can’t believe how caring and supportive people are. I can’t thank everyone enough who has donated for this. It’s been a source of comfort in the last 24 hours.”

Megan also thanked the paramedics that arrived on October 16 for being so supportive to her mother. She said her father’s passing was ‘a combination of an undetected heart condition along with a virus that turned into bronchopneumonia’. She said: “His heart condition is something that would have likely stemmed from untreated high blood pressure and the condition (left ventricular hypertrophy) is something that can develop silently over a number of years with little indicators. I believe echocardiogram or an electrocardiogram would flag up such a condition.”