Help my sister return for Urgent Medical Care

Donna Louissa (DL) is 45 and my older sister. She is also wife to Simon and mum to my 3 lovely nephews – Ross (14), Adam (13) and Luke (8). I have set up this page to try and raise funds to assist DL’s recovery from a serious medical situation.

While DL was working at school in Dubai, she experienced left sided weakness, dizziness, an inability to walk and difficulty talking with slurred speech on a number of occasions on 23 March 2022. Simon took her to hospital where an MRI scan revealed a 3.6 x 3.7cm tumour in her head and swelling of the brain. Surgery took place on 26 March 2022 and removed the tumour (which thankfully proven to be benign), but unfortunately her brain continued to swell up and overnight an emergency procedure was needed as the pressure on her head was too much and the neurosurgeon removed her skull to let it breathe. If they hadn’t done this, DL was only a minute or two away from dying.

The neurosurgeon indicated the next day that DL probably had a less than 50/50 chance of surviving, but we all know that DL is a fighter, after a few weeks in a coma, she started to improve and recognise visitors and follow some basic instructions (stick tongue out, lift left leg). The brain swelling reduced significantly too. An operation to put a new skull on (cranioplasty) took place on 5 May 2022, but unfortunately DL’s brain swelled up during the operation and the neurosurgeon decided not to fit the new skull as he did not want the same issue arising as per the original operation.

The 2nd operation unfortunately knocked DL back and today (19 May) she is only getting back towards the same status as before this operation.

Simon and their medical friends in Dubai have decided the best course of action is to fly DL back to Scotland for rehab and the cranioplasty op.

It is likely that DL will only be able to fly by air ambulance and her medical insurance will not cover this cost. This is likely to cost $100,000+. The cost of the current hospital treatment is likely to be around AED 500,000 ($130,000) and the medical insurance will only likely cover a small portion of this.

Simon and DL have some savings but most of it is not readily available, and this fund is being set up for people to donate to not only cover some of the above costs, but also for DL’s future rehab & recovery. It is estimated this could take between 6-12 months and possibly longer.

Any donations are most welcome, no matter how small. If you are unable to donate please help by sharing this story with your friends.

Thank you for taking the time to read DL’s story. Any help will be gratefully received and much appreciated by our whole family.