On the 6th march me and my 2yr old son have lost our world her name was Elena Vitale a fantastic mum, partner our everything, with so many adventures planned yet cut short very unexpected at the age of 43, no warnings rang out before her death, so nothing unfortunately was put in place. Elena and I had just settled into our long-term home with our little two-year-old tommy which took a chunk of any savings we had. So, I'm now calling upon the generosity of the public to help me as I'm on compassionate leave from my fulltime employment which may possibly become a permanent thing to raise my son and prepare a funeral that I didn't think would come for many years to come.

A little about Elena and myself: -

Elena was born in Scilly in 1982 and grew up there alongside her parents and two brothers and moved to the UK joining her brother who had been in the UK for a few years. Elena became settled in Stratford upon Avon where she became a waitress in an Italian restaurant keeping to her roots, The first time I met Elena was at coffee shop near the train station where I was passing through I don't even drink coffee but felt the need to that day and sat with my americano and sparked up a conversation from there things developed after many days, months and then we took the leap where she joined me in the countryside of Leominster which was a shock to the system being from Palermo which was one of the biggest cities in Scilly, It wasn't till we ventured to Hereford where her love grew alongside me with her passion for architecture, Elena loved the old architecture buildings and churches and whilst visiting the cathedral where we shared our first kiss, I knew then she was the one for me long term and took her on an exciting trip to Edinburgh and whilst visiting the main Edinburgh castle plucked up the courage to ask for her hand in marriage which I had secretly planned before hand with her none the wiser and thank god she accepted. Over the next couple of months I got to experience more of Elena's passions some right out of my comfort zone with her love of rock music which I'll admit now grew on me and treated her to first motley crew concert something she only had ever dreamed of as they retired but by chance, they came out of retirement and we ventured of to Sheffield where also on that memorable day after over a year of trying to extend our commitment with a family we discovered she was pregnant.

Our new reason then became apparent, and we were joined 9months later by our first child Tommy who brought us together with emotion and cemented everything for us deeply loved. We had planned to marry later that year but with the expense of setting up home we settled with that and planned to do that later but unfortunately now that's not to be, she was the most intelligent, beautiful, funny woman I ever met a real passionate soul, and loved by all that met her , and the most devoted mother to Thomas so I want to give her the best send-off she truly deserves.

Thomas and I would like to thank everyone for all donations given towards her funeral

Many thanks Daniel Macmillan