Family of Dick Geary raising funds to bring ailing writer home

(Editor's Note: Readers of the BVD who have followed Dick Geary's exploits in Brazil during the past year may have noticed there hasn't been a column from him in the last month. Although we initially assumed he was having issues with his computer or the internet there, that unfortunately proved not to be the case. Everyone at the BVD is glad to hear Dick's health is improving and we wish him, his family and his friends all the best as they work through these challenging times.)

When newspaper columnist Richard "Dick" Geary set out for Brazil last year, he had no plans to return to Montana. Little did the Helmville native, rancher and writer know, his quest to re-discover the country that had first enchanted him during a stint in the Peace Corps would turn into an ongoing struggle with ill health, fraud and bureaucratic red-tape that left him stranded in a foreign country.

After bidding friends and family adieu, Geary left Montana in January of 2017 to revisit the country where he'd lived for six years during the 1970's.

"My upcoming move back to Brazil is meant to return to a place for which I harbor a lot of affection," he wrote in October of 2016. "I realize that I'm not going to find a tropical nirvana."

The first clue that something might be amiss came when friend and fellow Helmville native Annette Gardner, who has helped Geary with accounting matters stateside, noticed suspicious activity on his credit card.

"That was one of the first ways we found out Dick was in need," Geary's sister Elaine Olsen told the BVD. "Had it not been for Annette, I don't think we would have known how ill Dick was and what a dangerous situation he was in...that's what put the whole thing in motion was her noticing some irregularities, and with Dick being in such bad health, he was very vulnerable."

It was only after Gardner alerted Geary's family that an investigation into his situation found Geary in dire straits, both physically and financially.

"We didn't know how bad of shape he's in until we...followed up, and then we found out that he's really ill," said Olsen. "We had no idea – none."

Upon investigating, Geary's family found him hospitalized, on oxygen and too weak to walk. His financial accounts had been fraudulently emptied and were subsequently frozen. Realizing the gravity of the situation, family members pooled their resources and began the process of trying to bring Geary, whose passport and Brazilian visa have both expired, safely home to Montana.

With the help of a crowd-sourced campaign on GoFundMe.com that raised more than $5000 in eight days, another of Geary's sisters, Joyce Scott, traveled to Brazil to begin the complex process of getting the gravely ill expatriate released from the Brazilian hospital and back on American soil.

"Getting him safely out of the hospital has been the hardest thing," said Olsen. "The embassies in Brazil and the United States, the consulate and the State Department...have been absolutely fabulous. They've done what they can."

Olsen said the money raised will all go entirely toward the expenses of getting Geary out of the Brazilian hospital and back on American soil.

"Joyce will be traveling alone to Sao Paulo, then to Cuiaba to then travel home with Dick," read a May 14 online update to the GoFundMe campaign posted by Olsen on. "The hospital will not release Dick except to a family member."

If everything goes according to plan, Scott and Geary should be back in the U. S. by Friday, May 18. From the airport, Geary will be transported directly to the hospital in Missoula.

He left here with the intent of revisiting the Brazil that he knew in the 70's...it wasn't the Brazil he remembered," said Olsen. She said they don't yet know what the future may hold for Geary, who had planned to develop a small tourism and fishing business on the headwaters of the Rio Paraguai.

"Right now, money's an issue," she said. "We don't know what his lifestyle might be like when we get him home."

For now, Olsen said, the best friends and well-wishers can do is to let Geary know they are thinking of him.

Cards and notes can be sent care of Elaine Olsen, P.O. Box 593 Helena, MT, 59624. For updates or to contribute, please visit http://www.gofundme.com/pv7dzy