A Northern Grampians family had been to hell and back before they faced another tragic blow when a father of two died in a motorcycle crash on Saturday.
Darrin Moss tragically died only three weeks after his wife Shanae gave birth to their second son, Hudson Blake, in January.
The couple had already endured six miscarriages after their first child, Blake, died six days after he was born on March 10, 2012.
Shanae then gave birth to the couple’s second child, Charlotte Kate, in 2015, before the birth of Hudson three weeks ago.
Darrin’s cousin Jess Horrocks and her friend Chloe Rowlings spearheaded a campaign to help support the grieving family.
The pair set up a gofundme page, gofundme.com/supporting-shanae-and-her-family, on Sunday, which had already received more than $14,500 by Tuesday.
Ms Rowlings said she was impressed with how well the page had been received by the community.
“We expected the reaction to be strong as Shanae has a lot of friends and has a lot community support, but we did not expect the reaction to come so quickly,” she said.
“We are really grateful to how everyone has rallied behind her and the rest of the family.”
The campaign will help the family cover funeral costs and other financial burdens they now face alone.
Ms Rowlings said Shanae would need help supporting her two young children during what was a very difficult time.
“We are asking you to please dig deep and help support Shanae and her young children at this harrowing time,” she said.
“Any amount will ease the financial burden Shanae is now facing.”
She said there were also more than 20 fundraising tins located inside Stawell and Ararat businesses.
Ms Rowlings’ partner Daniel Digney, with Mitch Wood and Thomas Young also wanted to plan a DJ performance at the Gift Hotel on Saturday, March 11, with all entry fees to be donated to Shanae.
Gift Hotel manager Matt Jones said it was always amazing when the Stawell community got together and supported those going through difficulty. “This will be a small way of helping Shanae and her family,” he said.
“There will be tins through the night to help raise funds.”
