Former Kiwi pacer Iain O'Brien is set to be reunited with his family after his fund-raising initiative helped him to generate the money he was looking for.
O’Brien, 43, lives in UK with his wife and two kids but he is currently stranded in New Zealand after three flight cancellations due to COVID-19 lockdown.
Having booked the overpriced flights, O’Brien ran out of resources as there was a delay in refunding the cost.
With Coronavirus crisis also limiting his flight options, the ex-Black Caps cricketer was aiming for one worth £2,250 and leaving New Zealand on April 5. Therefore, O’Brien turned to the funding page as a possible solution and he succeeded in his initiative. In fact, the contribution from people surpassed his expectations.
"This is quite difficult because I'm not used to these kind of things," Iain O'Brien said on his YouTube channel. "But I woke up this morning, maybe for the third or fourth time in my life I cried before I got out of bed… I thank you all so much for your contributions. It's completely oxymoron, but I'm speechless and I really don't know what to say. I'm just so grateful…thank you and my wife thanks you."
Earlier, O’Brien had said that he fears for his wife’s health as she has a lung condition, which puts her at great risk to this deadly virus.
“The big bit for me is my wife has a lung condition where if she gets any sort of chest infection it can take time off her life,” O’Brien, who played 22 Tests, 10 ODIs and four T20s for Black Caps, was quoted as saying by the ‘stuff.co.nz’.
“This virus could kill her. With a couple of kids for her to deal with, and her mum is 80, there’s a fair bit on her plate at the moment. I would be kind of keen to take some of that stress off her but I think I’m just adding to it at the moment,” he added.
