A 67-year-old mother is fighting for her life in a Turkish hospital where treatment costs £10,000 ($13,000) per day.
Carole Fleming, a British mother, was in Turkey visiting the family of her daughter’s husband when she collapsed on August 18.
Ms. Fleming was rushed to a hospital where it was discovered that her platelet count was only 6,000 per microliter of blood. This means she is unable to form clots and requires regular transfusions to stay alive as the minimum safe level is 150,000.
The mother-of-two has been moved around several hospitals but her platelet count dropped to only 1,000 per microliter.
Ms. Fleming, a breast-cancer survivor, is now in a hospital where treatment costs £10,000 ($13,000) per day. However, the British Consulate said they will not repatriate her while she is still alive.
Her daughter, Stephanie Uyar, is now trying to raise money for a commercial air ambulance to bring her mother back into the hands of the NHS in Britain.
“It’s like I’m trapped in a horror movie. The things I’ve seen and witnessed in the last three weeks, I wouldn’t wish them on my worst enemy,” Mrs. Uyar expressed. “No child should see their mother in a condition like that.
“To see the woman who’s always been my rock, who’s always been there to help me, to see her so vulnerable in a strange place. I’ll have nightmares about this ward for the rest of my life.”
The daughter continued: “I’ve been trying to keep her mind off it by talking about EastEnders or gossiping about people we met on the beach, but it’s hard to stay composed when I look up and see my mum like this.
“Her blood can’t clot, so she has constant uncontrollable nosebleeds – sometimes she even cries blood. At one point her tongue was just one huge blood blister, she could barely talk.”
Mrs. Uyar added: “I might lose my mum and my best friend because of an insurance loophole, and that’s what’s hardest to come to terms with.
“It’s not right that my mum could be taken away because of a form in an office somewhere.
“I just hope the insurance underwriters have a heart and realise what’s at stake.”
Mr. Fleming also said: “Every hour counts. At the moment all they can do is keep up the blood transfusions, but she needs immunoglobulin therapy just to get her in shape to fly home.
“That costs £10,000 a day. So far we’ve dug deep to pay £7,000, but that kind of money just isn’t possible.
“The doctors are ready and waiting to start, but they can’t do anything until they know who’s paying for it. That’s just how it works.
“It’s such a difficult situation – if I was out in Turkey I would have lost my temper by now.
“Carole means the world to me. She helped raise me, she’s more than just a sister. She’s just an incredibly kind, incredibly warm, caring person. She spent her life helping disadvantaged kids into apprenticeships, and those success stories always gave her such a lift.
“After all she’s done to help people, it’s awful to think that she could die because of something like an insurance error.”
Mr. Fleming added: “There’s nothing we can do from the UK. We’re just sat here going around in circles while Carole is fighting for her life out in Turkey.
“We called the Foreign Office and they said there was nothing they can do – but then told us they’d “repatriate” her if she died.
“We’re the fifth richest nation in the world. It’s not that we don’t have the means to fly a citizen home.”
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Replaced!