Lets get mum home.
Donation protected
I still cannot believe this is our situation now or that I am writing this to try and explain everything that has happened, but here goes.
Our mum, Jane suffered a large brain hemorrhage on Wednesday the 3rd of June. Mum had suffered a mini stroke 19 days before this happened, and was kept overnight in the local hospital. From there she had MRI tests, CT scans, Blood test after blood test, and various other examinations done. It's safe to say she was given a full MOT.
Mum was due to go and see a cardiologist for examinations on the day she had her hemorrhage. Mum was at home alone when this happened, but thank god her best friend Lynn was coming over to pick her up and take her to her doctor's appointment. Obviously Lynn was very concerned when there was no answer at the door, and straight away arranged for Max to come and get into her apartment. She was then taken by ambulance to our local hospital, and then transferred on to Paphos hospital.
If there was ever a time for this to happen, of course it had to happen during a global pandemic! With us all stuck in the UK! Visitors were not allowed at this point and there was no one there to be by her side. We all felt completely helpless, and feared that we were losing our Mum. Myself and Alfie were luckily able to get home 8 days after it happened, but with Cyprus not allowing any tourists into the country, the chances of Matt and Rob getting here to be with mum were impossible.
Mum was transferred to ICU in Paphos. They did a CT scan which showed the hemorrhage. She was unable to respond in any way, and lost movement in her right side. The first 36 hours were critical, but Mum did what she does best and fought, hard!
Restriction had eased by the time I got home, allowing 1 family member into ICU for 5 minutes per day. I took whatever I could get.
Walking into that room and seeing mum for the first time was hands down the hardest moment of my life. Our mum, our incredibly strong mum, in that bed so vulnerable and poorly. However I knew the moment I looked into her eyes that she knew what was going on. She knew I was there, and listened to every word I said. She tried so hard to speak back to me too. In that moment I have never been more thankful for mum's stubbornness!
A few days passed and mum was developing a chesty cough, and was struggling with fluid build up. Even though her oxygen levels were good, they decided a tracheostomy was the best option to take the stress off of Mum. They attempted the procedure but was unsuccessful, and made the decision to keep her on a ventilator until they can understand why it didn't work. Mum was now sedated and on a ventilator, but by doing this it is giving her body a real good rest. They did tests to try and understand why the procedure didn't work, but found nothing. They reattempted the tracheostomy again, but unfortunately the ventilator would not ventilate. They are still trying to understand why this wouldn't work, but for mum going forward a tracheostomy is still the best option.
The doctors put mum on medication to help the blood in her brain get reabsorbed by the body, and slowly but surely this is happening, but there is no time frame for how long this can take. Hopefully the more pressure that is eased off the brain, the more she will regain back, but we are aware there is going to be permanent damages, we just don't know to what extent yet.
Mum is going to need lots of specialised care. Not only now, but especially during her recovery. Unfortunately Cyprus cannot offer her that. Mum will need a specialist stroke unit, doctors who have dealt with mums' situations over and over. We want our mum to be able to regain back as much life as she possibly can. She is only young still at 61, and has 3, soon to be 4 young grandchildren to watch grow up. Going forward we have been recommended that mum gets transferred back to the UK. By doing so, we know we are giving mum the best chance.
To get mum home we will need to use an air ambulance. She will need a doctor with her throughout the flight, and the flight will need to be flown at a low altitude due to the pressure on the brain. Without a doubt we will do whatever it takes to get mum home, but this kind of service is extremely costly.
This is the part where my toes begin to curl, and I know my brothers will agree when I say that we don't want to turn mum into a charity case, however there has been one thing that has kept us all strong the past 8 weeks, and that has been the amount of love and support we have got from friends, and family, both in Cyprus and England. There are so many people offering to help us in any way they possibly can. People have shown us all so much kindness. Unfortunately like all of us in the family, we are all pretty helpless, that's what makes all this so hard.
There is one thing we can do, and that's get mum back to the UK to the amazing doctors who I am sure will do incredible things for Mum.
Trying to raise the amount of money we need to cover the flight is going to be a struggle. If you are in a position to help us, no matter how small, myself, my brothers, my mum, and the whole of our family would be incredibly grateful.
Our mum, Jane suffered a large brain hemorrhage on Wednesday the 3rd of June. Mum had suffered a mini stroke 19 days before this happened, and was kept overnight in the local hospital. From there she had MRI tests, CT scans, Blood test after blood test, and various other examinations done. It's safe to say she was given a full MOT.
Mum was due to go and see a cardiologist for examinations on the day she had her hemorrhage. Mum was at home alone when this happened, but thank god her best friend Lynn was coming over to pick her up and take her to her doctor's appointment. Obviously Lynn was very concerned when there was no answer at the door, and straight away arranged for Max to come and get into her apartment. She was then taken by ambulance to our local hospital, and then transferred on to Paphos hospital.
If there was ever a time for this to happen, of course it had to happen during a global pandemic! With us all stuck in the UK! Visitors were not allowed at this point and there was no one there to be by her side. We all felt completely helpless, and feared that we were losing our Mum. Myself and Alfie were luckily able to get home 8 days after it happened, but with Cyprus not allowing any tourists into the country, the chances of Matt and Rob getting here to be with mum were impossible.
Mum was transferred to ICU in Paphos. They did a CT scan which showed the hemorrhage. She was unable to respond in any way, and lost movement in her right side. The first 36 hours were critical, but Mum did what she does best and fought, hard!
Restriction had eased by the time I got home, allowing 1 family member into ICU for 5 minutes per day. I took whatever I could get.
Walking into that room and seeing mum for the first time was hands down the hardest moment of my life. Our mum, our incredibly strong mum, in that bed so vulnerable and poorly. However I knew the moment I looked into her eyes that she knew what was going on. She knew I was there, and listened to every word I said. She tried so hard to speak back to me too. In that moment I have never been more thankful for mum's stubbornness!
A few days passed and mum was developing a chesty cough, and was struggling with fluid build up. Even though her oxygen levels were good, they decided a tracheostomy was the best option to take the stress off of Mum. They attempted the procedure but was unsuccessful, and made the decision to keep her on a ventilator until they can understand why it didn't work. Mum was now sedated and on a ventilator, but by doing this it is giving her body a real good rest. They did tests to try and understand why the procedure didn't work, but found nothing. They reattempted the tracheostomy again, but unfortunately the ventilator would not ventilate. They are still trying to understand why this wouldn't work, but for mum going forward a tracheostomy is still the best option.
The doctors put mum on medication to help the blood in her brain get reabsorbed by the body, and slowly but surely this is happening, but there is no time frame for how long this can take. Hopefully the more pressure that is eased off the brain, the more she will regain back, but we are aware there is going to be permanent damages, we just don't know to what extent yet.
Mum is going to need lots of specialised care. Not only now, but especially during her recovery. Unfortunately Cyprus cannot offer her that. Mum will need a specialist stroke unit, doctors who have dealt with mums' situations over and over. We want our mum to be able to regain back as much life as she possibly can. She is only young still at 61, and has 3, soon to be 4 young grandchildren to watch grow up. Going forward we have been recommended that mum gets transferred back to the UK. By doing so, we know we are giving mum the best chance.
To get mum home we will need to use an air ambulance. She will need a doctor with her throughout the flight, and the flight will need to be flown at a low altitude due to the pressure on the brain. Without a doubt we will do whatever it takes to get mum home, but this kind of service is extremely costly.
This is the part where my toes begin to curl, and I know my brothers will agree when I say that we don't want to turn mum into a charity case, however there has been one thing that has kept us all strong the past 8 weeks, and that has been the amount of love and support we have got from friends, and family, both in Cyprus and England. There are so many people offering to help us in any way they possibly can. People have shown us all so much kindness. Unfortunately like all of us in the family, we are all pretty helpless, that's what makes all this so hard.
There is one thing we can do, and that's get mum back to the UK to the amazing doctors who I am sure will do incredible things for Mum.
Trying to raise the amount of money we need to cover the flight is going to be a struggle. If you are in a position to help us, no matter how small, myself, my brothers, my mum, and the whole of our family would be incredibly grateful.
Organizer
Suzanne Neil
Organizer
