A mother says her grief has been compounded by being kept in hotel quarantine, despite being given special permission to self-isolate.
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Ellen Smail's son Marcus Difonzo, both originally from Portland, was tragically killed in a car accident in the US in July.
Mr Difonzo moved to the US two years ago and was living with his American partner Alyssa Wesler.
But on July 11 Ms Smail got a phone call from her daughter Jessie saying Mr Difonzo had been killed instantly when a woman, who had been drinking and smoking marijuana, veered onto his side of the road.
It took 24 days for Ms Smail to get Md Difonzo's body back to Australia and he was cremated in QLD, where Ms Smail lives.
Ms Smail then flew to Victoria and has recently spent time in Portland getting support from family and friends in the wake of her son's death.
She said when planning to return back to QLD she had written statements from her GP and psychologist outlining why she should be given special permission to self isolate at her Gladstone property and it had been verbally approved by the state government.
She said she applied for the exemption on October 1 and did not receive a response until the day she flew out on October 19.
"I was ringing and emailing saying I need to know if I can have to get food delivered to my house or I'm going to be in a hotel and need magazines and books to keep myself entertained," she said.
She said when she arrived at Brisbane airport she was left unattended for 90 minutes and waited for 25 minutes for police to arrive in Gladstone. She said she expected the police to take her home to self isolate but was then informed she was going into hotel quarantine.
"I was left there unattended and unescorted, at the time not knowing if I had COVID or not," she said.
She has spent one week alone in hotel quarantine which included her deceased son's birthday and she said being kept in hotel quarantine was exacerbating her grief.
"I feel like I'm fighting every day," she said.
"I've had to fight for my son and now I'm fighting with my grief.
"I knew I would have to self isolate for two weeks and I was fine with that.
"Part of my conditions is that I undergo a mental health assessment.
"I'm not mentally unwell, I'm grieving.
"They've decided it's in my best interests to be here. "
Ms Smail said she was lucky to have strong family support but she was concerned for others who maybe in a similar situation.
To support Ms Smail a petition has been launched calling on the Queensland government to reconsider her quarantine.
The petition was launched on Tuesday and within 24 hours had attracted almost 500 signatures.
To sign the petition visit https://www.change.org/p/queensland-premier-help-grieving-mother-ellen-smail-return-home
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