There were hugs and tears all round when a mum and her son were reunited for Christmas.
Christine Graham from Whitehaven feared she might never see her son in person again after she suffered a heart attack which prevented her flying out to see him in Australia.
But Christine was the winner of a competition run by broadband company Fibrus in partnership with Newsquest Cumbria to bring a long-missed relative home for Christmas.
She and husband Geoff embraced son Tony in an emotional reunion when he flew into Manchester airport courtesy of Fibrus.
The family has not been together for five years.
“I really can’t believe it,” said Christine.
“It means the absolute world. Honestly no one could have ever given me anything better – there is no better present. It is so special, and we are all so grateful. We want to say thank you to Fibrus. But really thank you isn’t enough. Just being able to give him a hug, it’s unbelievable.”
Tony was delighted to be back for Christmas, although the drop in temperature was a bit of a shock.
“When I left Australia it was 38 degrees and I’m actually a bit sunburnt from working outdoors, luckily I brought a beanie hat with me.
“It feels really good to be back and to be able to spend Christmas with my family and friends.
“When Mum told me I couldn’t believe it,” he said.
Fibrus, the superfast Full Fibre broadband provider has been busy connecting communities across Cumbria and decided to celebrate its 100,000th customer by giving a local family the chance to connect in real life for Christmas day.
Christine, who works in a Whitehaven shop and Geoff, who works for Iron Mountain Contracting in Hensingham, are both from Workington originally. They have a daughter who lives near London, and their son Tony, 44 – who attended St Benedict’s School in Whitehaven – emigrated to Australia more than 20 years ago and lives in Perth.
“Tony moved to Australia because there were opportunities and he has asthma and the warmer weather helped him,” said Christine.
“But the cost of flights is very high, and then in March last year I had a heart attack,” she said. “It was out of the blue. I have come to realise that I’m not going to get back to how I was. I am short of breath and easily tired and I can’t walk very far.
“There is no way I can ever go to Australia now. I was afraid I would never see Tony again. It is a terrible thought.”
On Christmas days they usually Facetime with Tony for up to an hour but Christine said: “It feels as if part of you is always missing. No matter how old they are, your children are still your children.”
Christine entered the Christmas Connections competition, which gave families the chance to nominate a loved one to bring home, on a whim.
“I never enter competitions,” she said. “I never thought I would have a chance. I wasn’t feeling well, and I was going backwards and forwards to the doctors for tests, and I felt really down in the dumps. I was amazed when they said I had won.
“I called Tony and said, what are you doing on Christmas day and he said I’m not doing anything, I’m not going anywhere, I’m not going to see anyone. I said, well how would you like to come home for Christmas? He said – are you serious?! Because he knew we couldn’t afford it. I just couldn’t believe it and he was the same.”
She added: “We are a really close family. His sister is delighted and so are the grandchildren, they love their big uncle. It is the best present anyone could have given to our family.”
Dominic Kearns, chief executive of Fibrus said: “When we heard Christine’s story we knew that bringing Tony home for Christmas would be truly life-enhancing for her and the family.
“So many families are apart at Christmas, and we know the heartache that can bring. At Fibrus we are the specialists when it comes to keeping people connected and we are delighted to go an extra step this Christmas and bring a loved one home in person.”
Fibrus has become a household name around Cumbria, transforming the digital infrastructure with its high-quality, affordable packages and award-winning customer service, connecting premises in rural and regional areas.
Fibrus has built a network that now extends to almost 400,000 homes and businesses in Northern Ireland and Cumbria, enabled through a combination of public funding and commercial investment.
Christine and Geoff are among the many Cumbrians who have switched to Fibrus.
“There was no hesitation for us in getting Fibrus,” she said. “We had heard how good they were, and we were waiting for them to come to the area so we could sign up. As we say to people, it’s twice the speed for half the cost of our old system.
“That has definitely helped us to keep in touch with Tony, we have no trouble connecting to him every week when we speak to him on the phone or Facetime him.”
