A world away

Why is irt that no matter where I go my closest friends always seem like a world away?  Now, given that they are kinda far from each other I don't think they would ever be in the same place anyways.  But still, a girl can dream can't she?  So I have this friend who is literally on the other side of the world.  We have known each other for a little over a year and a half now I think.  I know the exact date that we met and who started the conversation and everything yet (hold your breath) we have never actually met in person.  I don't really have anything against that really, we met randomly but the conversation was a bit of a tough one.  Needless to say we connected fast and we shared a lot about ourselves.  At this point in time I would say that there are only a couple other people who know me as well as her and she says the same thing.  But here comes the catch.  She is going through a really hard time right now and I'm the kind of person who really, really wants to help out my friends.  Now if I had the $2000 to fly over there I would in a heart beat but I'm not going to have that money anytime soon.  Which really sucks.  And of course, since she is going through a lot, she isn't able to talk to me all that often unless she is really desperate and pushes everything away for a few minutes.  What am I to do?  I know she needs to figure all this out on her own and I can't fix anything but she is feeling so alone.  I write to her as much as I can yet I'm not even sure if she has the time to read it or not.  No matter what I do she is always at the back of my mind.  We've both felt the distance between us but right now she is feeling it the most.  It's really hard to read her pm's when I can hear just how torn she is and how much she just wants a friend by her side at that moment.  I do the best I can for her but with the distance it is very limited.  Some day...  Some day...