Cruel twist in case of dying father who WILL be visited by his four children on his death bed after government U-turn - but relatives reveal sad restrictions placed on the final farewell
- Mark Keans from Brisbane, was diagnosed with inoperable brain and lung cancer
- The 39-year-old's four children are in Sydney and it is his dying wish to see them
- Due to COVID-19, the devastated kids won't be allowed to hug their dying father
- Australians have raised $231,797 for the family to help with quarantine costs
- Daily Mail Australia understands Prime Minister Scott Morrison donated $1,000
The terminally father who has been allowed a reprieve to say goodbye to his children on his death bed will not be able to hug them, relatives have revealed.
Mark Keans, 39, from Brisbane, has terminal brain cancer and was facing the heartbreak of deciding which of his kids he would farewell.
But following massive public pressure Queensland Health officials relented and will allow the children to visit him after they complete 14-day quarantine.
However Mr Keans' father Bruce Langborne said the children will be forced to wear PPE and will not be able to hug their father goodbye.
'He's just going to see these masked-up little people. He's not really going to be able to interact with them and they can't interact with him and that's not really what he wants,' Mr Langborne said.
Mark Keans - who has terminal cancer - is pictured with his children (L-R) Noah 13, Caitlyn 11, Caleb 11, and Isaac, 7. His family have been quoted $16,000 in quarantine fees to travel to Queensland to say goodbye to him
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Daily Mail Australia understands that a $1,000 donation from a 'Scott Morrison' is the prime minister himself
The Marks Final Wish GoFundMe page had raised more than $231,000 as of Friday afternoon to help Brisbane man Mark Kean's children visit him in hospital.
Donations to the family include $1000 from Prime Minister Scott Morrison to help pay for mandatory COVID-19 quarantine, predicted to cost the family between $16,000 and $20,000.
Family friend Jamie O'Brien, who set up the fundraiser, said the leftover money would go towards helping other families divided by the border lockdown.
'As well as setting up the futures of the four children that Mark will leave behind,' Mr O'Brien said.
Queensland recorded two new virus infections on Friday, bringing its active caseload to 28.
One is a contact of an Ipswich Hospital health worker, the other linked to an outbreak at a corrections training facility south of Brisbane.
The two ongoing clusters are believed to be connected to a pair of quarantine-dodging teens who contracted the virus after returning from Melbourne in June.
Health authorities had earlier said only one of Mr Keans' four Sydney-based children - all of whom are under the age of 13 - could cross the border to see him one last time.
Mr Keans was diagnosed a month ago with an inoperable cancer and is not expected to live until Christmas. Earlier, his family were told only one of his children would be given permission to cross into Queensland to see him in his final moments
Queensland Health did not at first respond to multiple requests for an exemption from the truck driver's family, but have now told them they can drive into the state and pay for two weeks quarantine in a Brisbane hotel.
The state's standard quarantine fees are $4,620 for two adults and two children.
Costs will also include taxi transfer to visit the father at his home - where his family will be escorted by government staff and have to wear full personal protective equipment.
'My wife told the Queensland Health person 'this is ridiculous - its going to cost more to quarantine than it will to bury my son',' Mr Langborne told Daily Mail Australia.
'At least they spoke to us but we didn't get anywhere - this is only a suggestion as well and nothing has been confirmed yet.'
Mr Langborne said his local member of parliament had been far more supportive of their situation - even offering to fly his son to New South Wales by air ambulance so he could be with his family.
'We understand and sympathise that this is a very difficult time and there are challenges,' a Queensland Health spokeswoman said.
'We are in the midst of a global pandemic and we need to protect our communities, especially the most vulnerable members of the community.
'We understand the health directions in place are strict, but they are designed to protect Queenslanders from COVID-19.'
More than $215,000 was raised by Friday morning, despite organisers setting a fundraising goal of just $30,000. Pictured: Mr Keans and his children
Mr Keans' fundraiser comes after Queensland health officials refused to allow Canberra woman Sarah Caisip, 26, out of hotel quarantine to attend her father's funeral in Brisbane.
Annastacia Palaszczuk's government would only allow the nursing graduate to see her father's body in private after Mr Morrison called the under-fire premier to ask her to make an exception in the young woman's case.
Taking to the floor of Queensland's state parliament later in the day, Ms Palaszczuk then sensationally accused Mr Morrison of bullying and intimidating her.
Mr Morrison said late on Thursday evening he had raised more than 40 different compassionate grounds exemptions with the Queensland government.
One case highlighted by federal authorities involved a mother and father who failed to get an application to enter Queensland resolved in time to be with their son before his life support machine was switched off after a series of strokes.
Sarah Caisip is pictured with her father Bernard Prendergast, 11-year-old sister Isobel Prendergast and mother Myrna Prendergast. The 26-year-old was denied a quarantine exemption from the Queensland government to attend her father's funeral in Brisbane on Thursday
Jayne Brown, 60, spent two weeks confined to a tiny hotel room in Brisbane following the surgery by renowned neurosurgeon Dr Charlie Teo - who removed two large tumours on her brain.
The grandmother-of-seven requested an exemption from hotel quarantine to self-isolate at home on the Sunshine Coast, but was rejected twice.
She blasted the Queensland premier, who allowed 400 AFL players and officials from coronavirus-riddled Victoria to enter the state last Tuesday night.
'I don't understand it, mind-blowing,' Ms Brown told Nine News last week.
Meanwhile, a young mother with a newborn baby has been left in limbo over when she will next be reunited with her mine worker husband due to Queensland's strict border restrictions.
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