Bob Allison, 68, spent four months in a Chinese hospital in the city of Yangzhou after suffering a stroke in January. Originally from Worcester, in the West Midlands of England, where he taught geology for four decades in local schools, he’d gone to China to work last year. However, after suffering the stroke, which left him paralysed down his left side, confused and low, it looked as if there would be a mountain to climb to get him home.
His medical bills had soared to over £12,000, a medically supervised flight to the UK was going to cost in excess of £35,000, plus there was Covid preventing most travel and the language barrier creating more difficulties.
His daughter Claire started a GoFundMe page back in March and, astonishingly, saw it accrue £54,275 in only six hours. The donors were almost entirely former Worcester pupils or their families.
Some of the tributes left for the well-respected teacher included:
“I…worked in the school office and saw how much he cared about the children.”
“Can’t tell you how much positive influence he had on our lives.”
“I am so overwhelmed by the generosity shown by the community,” Claire told local paper Worcester News. “We didn’t ever expect it to take off like it has. We felt guilty for setting up the page – we wanted to find the money ourselves – but, with no end in sight and the mounting costs, we realised we needed help.
“I never dreamed we would hit our goal in such a short amount of time. I am so grateful.”
Bob arrived back in the UK on 17 April and is now being treated at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital.
