A TEENAGER devastated by his father’s death has been forced to rely on the generosity of strangers to provide a low-cost funeral for his “hero”.

As Edward Weeden’s only child, seventeen-year-old Austin was the sole relative left in charge of his father’s financial affairs and found there were no savings and just a small amount of money in his bank account.

Full-time student Austin, who was born in America and raised in east Cleveland, vowed to give his father “a proper send-off” – despite having no income – and turned to the Government for help.

However, Austin was upset to find out he was not eligible to claim funding for the funeral as he does not claim benefits and was told to consider asking charities for help.

With support from his mother, Emily Hesse, from Saltburn, Austin set up a fundraising to cover Mr Weeden’s funeral costs and they were overwhelmed to reach their £1,700 target within eight hours of the fundraiser going live.

The teenager, who studies graphic design at Cleveland College of Art and Design, said: “He passed away and I was the only next of kin, but the problem is that I’m 17 so I can’t claim benefits so there’s no way for me to acquire any funding for a funeral.

“So the only other option was to have a simple cremation with no service and we didn’t want that – we wanted a proper send-off for him.

“We decided to start this Go Fund Me and after about eight hours we had raised the target amount, which was incredible.

“We didn’t want to be greedy with the money because we just wanted enough for a funeral so I closed the account.

“I woke up to lots of messages from people asking me to re-open the fund because my dad was American so there were lots of family members who wanted to contribute too.”

Mr Weeden died on Sunday, April 2, in the James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, after living with various illnesses, including stomach cancer, before becoming housebound in his final few months.

Austin added: ““It was absolutely terrifying to find out that the Government wasn’t there to support us at all.

“It was actually disgusting to me that they saw us a business to make money from and that there was no help.”

Tom Blenkinsop MP, who represents Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, hopes to raise the issue in the House of Commons.

Mr Blenkinsop said: “Obviously my heart goes out to Austin as this very difficult time for him, especially when losing a parent when so young.

“Myself and my office want to offer Austin any help we can to support Austin at this exceptionally difficult time.”