Family's predicament as 330kg man is ruled 'too big to cremate'

EXCLUSIVE

A father-of-two is working desperately to have his brother's ashes brought home after he was deemed too overweight to be cremated in his home state of Western Australia.

Allan Campbell, 38, a bouncer who was living in Perth, died on October 16 after suffering breathing difficulties due to his weight.

He weighed about 330kg at the time of his death and had been hospitalised twice in recent weeks after passing out when he struggled to breathe.

His brother, Ashtin Campbell, a 34-year-old poultry farmer living in Adelaide, said he was unaware of how severely Allan's health had deteriorated until he received a phone call telling him his brother had passed away.

Ashtin has since been trying to have his brother cremated so he can bring his ashes home to Adelaide.

Cremation laws vary in each state, but in Western Australia the weight limit for cremation is 350kg - including the weight of the coffin. 

Ashtin said the lightest casket he and his partner could find was still 71kg. Ashtin then explored the option of a burial in WA but that was going to cost him $11,000.

'Allan was having a hard time with money and was in between jobs. I was trying to get him down to South Australia before he died but he couldn't fly because of his breathing problems,' Ashtin told Daily Mail Australia.

He said alternative transport to bring his brother to his home in SA when he was still alive was going to cost $4,000 - and that wasn't feasible.

'My brother was always a big guy and everyone knew him as Big Al,' Ashtin said.

'We'd spoken a few times about him getting healthier and he would either change the subject or he'd get angry about his weight.

'When he called me up to tell me the first time he'd been in hospital, he was telling me "nothing's wrong". And I also didn't know he was 330kg either.

'I wasn't aware this was a serious issue until one of the doctors rang me and said he needed support. I was trying to organise for him to come down to SA but a few days after I spoke to him he died.' 

Ashtin, who has two kids of his own, said he hadn't seen his older brother in about five years, and guessed Allan had gained an extra 100kg during this time.

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'A lot of family members tried to help him but for the last few years I hadn't really seen him,' he said.

'I live down here (in SA) and life gets in the way. Allan was in a bad way and was moving around couch surfing.'

Ashtin has been getting help from his sister who lives in Queensland, with their father dead and their mother on a benefit back home in New Zealand.

'Money is tight, we work to live and we don't have any savings,' he said. 

'The best case scenario would be to bring him home and have him cremated so if at a later date we do go back to New Zealand, he can be taken home with us.

'I just want the ashes so he can be with us.'

Allan has a 16-year-old daughter and is separated from her mother, who live in WA.

Ashtin is now confident he has secured a way to bring his brother home but it'll come at a cost of about $6,000.

He has been able to find a funeral home in Adelaide that will cremate Allan for $1,000 with repatriation of his body from WA expected to cost another $5,000.

There are no weight limits for cremations in SA, but there was concern over whether Allan could physically fit in a casket or the incinerator.

Ashtin has launched a GoFundMe to help cover some of the costs associated with bringing his brother home.