A popular driver who passed away from cancer at the start of this month is being mourned by the trucking community.
Murray Sheeran, who worked for J.R. Stephens & Co in Ipswich, Queensland, has been described by his friends and colleagues as “a great bloke” and “a man of values”.
The 68 year old was originally from New Zealand but moved to Australia 18 years ago to start a new life.
Murray’s son Jodie said his dad worked as a truckie for many different companies over the years, and seems to have made a good impression wherever he went.
“We’ve been getting lots of messages of condolences from people we don’t know, telling us they used to drive with dad or meet him on the road,” he said.
“It seems like he was quite well known in the trucking community, both in Australia and in New Zealand.”
Sadly, there was only three weeks between when Murray was diagnosed with leukaemia and when he died.
“He was diabetic so he had to have regular checks for his diabetes, but nothing had been picked up,” Jodie said.
“One day he thought he had a UTI so he went to the doctor and they ran some tests and he found out he had leukaemia.
“The cancer was very aggressive, it was a big shock to all of us. It’s been really tough.”
With Murray passing away so quickly, the family is struggling to deal with the costs involved in organising his affairs.
They had initially started a GoFundMe page to help their dad pay his rent while he was in hospital, with doctors estimating he would be an inpatient for about a month after his first chemotherapy treatment.
The fundraiser, which you can donate to here, is now being used to help cover the expenses of the funeral and transporting Murray’s ashes back to New Zealand.