By MEGAN WRIGHT.
It’s been almost four years since John Tyson lost his partner Donna and eldest son, Jordan Rice, in the 2011 Queensland floods.
The father of two describes Jordan as a courageous boy who “will always be a hero to me, and one of the bravest people I know of.”
Thirteen-year-old Jordan is remembered for saving his younger brother’s life when the floods swept through his hometown of Toowoomba. He told rescuers to “take my brother first”, pulling himself away and watching as 10-year-old Blake was pulled to safety. Moments later Jordan and his mother were gone.
Watch here as John talks about his son’s bravery and his campaign to have Jordan awarded the Cross of Valour for his selfless act:
But now, in addition to the pain and suffering of losing a wife, mother, brother and son, John Tyson and his son Blake are living in a homeless shelter.
After spending thousands of dollars campaigning to have Jordan awarded the Cross of Valour, the Rice family are broke and without a home.
John has spoken previously about his life since losing Jordan and Donna. In an open letter to Prime Minister Tony Abbott published earlier this year, he said:
In the last three and a half years, I have had moments of feeling very alone. Battling to hold myself together, to support Blake, to hold down a job, to deal with the pain. People often ask me how I keep going after losing two of the people closest to me like that. To be honest, I don’t really know. I still live with the pain, probably always will.
A campaign has been launched on crowd funding platform Indiegogo.com to raise money for the father and son, “to help them in this hard time and find a place for them so they can have a home again”.
The campaign, which aims to raise $50,000 to support John and Blake, is running for the next 57 days.
To contribute to the campaign to raise funds for the family of Jordan Rice, click here.
To sign John Tyson’s petition to have Jordan’s bravery recognised, click here.
To find out more about the Jordan Rice Foundation, click here.
Top Comments
i wish the best for the family and i hope that they make it through the year and many more years to come. I hope that through all the donations that they can make a better lifestyle and i believe that this story as helped many people in my Year 9 class, so thank you for sharing your story and we all from the bottoms of our hearts support you and wish you the very best...
Did anyone else have difficulty donating? I tried, only to get a message saying payments can't be accepted at this time. Either way, I wish the best for his family at this difficult time.