When a loved one is far.. far away

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My mom will be 86 years old next month. She lives alone back in Portugal and up to now she seemed to be unstoppable. She had some trouble adapting after my dad died, but she still had my uncle - that lived with us all his life due to the fact that he had meningitis when he was a kid and was mentally impaired. - and her dog. About 3 years back, my uncle passed away as well. Mom took it hard too, but was able to get back and continued her gymnastics and swimming classes, and used to go out with her friends - the last time they went to Italy for a week and had a ball :) - and of course even on those days when she was a bit down, she still ended up being active because she knew she had to go out for a walk with the dog. Last week, her dog died and she is really taking it badly. I can understand it. THere is nothing else. THere is not even the motivation to go out because the dog needed to go for a walk. I"ve been trying to convince her to come here at least for a few weeks, but she seems not to be interested in anything. I am so far away that I feel helpless. I can't just take the car and go visit her for the weekend, we are at least 7 hours apart - by plane. Not only I would have to take time off from work to go there, I would have to pay an expensive ticket that I can't afford. Ever since I came here, I always worried about when this time would come. There isn't much that one can do from so far other than calling more often and try to convince her to come here for some time. To make things worse, because she is my adopted - not legally - mom, I can't even bring her to live here with me legally. I could bring my birth parents, but not the person that really raised me and loved me ever since i was months old grrrrrr I hope she can get back to her own self soon because if she doesn't I am not very sure of what to do. Do you have a loved one that lives so far away that it is very complicated to reach him/her if needed?