For everyone who knows Thomas, you will know this is now our last resort as we are running out of avenues to get Tom and his dog Bogart home.

Tom is a free spirited individual who has lived for the last nine years by his wits, his music and his poetry, traveling world wide, going as far as Columbia with only his guitar, toothbrush and £2. in his pocket. It is a hand to mouth existence, where he has met many wonderful, colourful people who have shared their homes and their meals with him.

As a parent, you have to let your children grow and leave knowing you have equip them as best you can to deal with all that life may throw at them and the fact that he has come this far relatively unscathed is a testament to his resourcefulness.

On his travels he acquired Bogart, a loyal dog who he has grown to love and who has on many occasions kept Tom safe from those who would hurt people on the streets living a traveling musician lifestyle. Last year when Tom was hospitalised for four days following an attack by 5 thugs, Bogart was the reason the attack was not worse, he saw off the attackers.

Due to their bond, Tom cannot leave Bogart, even if he had the money to put him in kennels which he hasn't, unfortunately neither do we.

So where are we now?

The pandemic happened and Tom could not leave Portugal and Bogart had no dog passport (he does now)

A state of Emergency was called in Portugal and European borders closed for those without a car. They were trapped in Portugal without Bogart's passport or a car to get through any land borders. All public transport through borders was halted.

They are now living hand to mouth out of shop bins for food and with help from a few friends in Lisbon who do what they can to help. He is also getting some help from local charities who are distributing food to homeless people and their pets. We try and send occasional money for food, medicine or to top up a phone but it is hard being self employed cleaners who are self isolating due to underlying health issues and an aging clientele.

Anyway, today I received an email that advised me that just to get Bogart flown home would cost approximately £1142. including fees both in Portugal and in London. We were devastated. This is without Toms flight. We need to fly Bogart home first to ensure he is not left with no one to collect him in case, Toms flight goes and Bogart's flight is cancelled, as we have no way to cover kennels. So on an estimate we allow and extra £300. for travel to get Tom flown home, allowing for possible complications which up to date has been a daily routine. So we need to raise about £1,442. to get them both home safely.

We have now been trying to get them home since January but we have now run out of options and money.

Thank you for reading this. It was a difficult thing to admit as all parents want to provide for their children, but unfortunately lock down has wiped out our meager savings and we now have no other avenues.

All money will go towards getting them both home one way or another, in the event we do not raise enough for the flights and feeding them on their journey.

We are coordinating with the British Consulate in Lisbon to get the most up to date advise.

Please share far and wide. Much love and stay safe.

PS. Anyone who needs confirmation that this is legitimate please feel free to message me and I will forward you the lovely email of support with price Quote for Bogart I receive from Luis who works for a pet courier who work with British Airways, the only courier transporting pets out of Lisbon at the moment that we have found after hours of emails and phone calls.