A sick British grandmother who has been stranded in a Florida hospital with no travel insurance for seven weeks after falling ill on the trip of a lifetime is finally coming home.
Patricia Bunting, from Wigan, had been on a three-week holiday with her grandson and two sons to Disney World when she caught Covid and was hospitalised at Orlando’s Dr P. Phillips Hospital at the end of November.
She had spent five days in intensive care with the illness before contracting pneumonia, which left her in a critical condition and too ill to leave hospital.
The 76-year-old, who is currently catheterised and immobile, has been stuck on US soil ever since whilst her medical bills soared on a daily basis.
During this period, her family have been campaigning to raise enough money to bring her home to the UK so she can continue to receive adequate care and be surrounded by her loved ones.
And all their hard work has seemingly paid off, as Patricia’s daughter Emma confirmed her mother’s medical flight had been booked and was scheduled to take off on Tuesday.
She will still need hospital care when she returns and doctors at Orlando Health are currently speaking to ICU staff at Wigan Infirmary about her transfer to their hospital.
A total of £40,000 was raised to help get Patricia home and Emma thanked all of those who donated for their ‘kindness and generosity’, adding: ‘It’s because of you that we’ve been able to make this happen.’
British grandmother Patricia Bunting has been stranded in Florida for seven weeks after falling ill with Covid and developing pneumonia
Patricia Bunting, 76, from Wigan, had been on a three week holiday with her grandson and two sons to Disney World when she fell ill and was hospitalised at Orland’s Dr P. Phillips Hospital in November
The family say they will keep the GoFundMe page open as they wait to receive the final medical bill.
Emma wrote on the fundraiser page: ‘We are so relieved to share that Mum’s medical flight has been secured and she is finally coming home! The flight is scheduled for the 14th, but we’re just waiting for the final itinerary to be confirmed once Orlando Health has spoken to the ICU doctors at Wigan Infirmary.
‘Mum will still need hospital care when she returns, but we are so happy that our family can be close to her and support her recovery moving forward. She is still cathoterised and immobile and still required a lot of medical care on her return to the UK.
‘We honestly can’t thank you all enough for your kindness and generosity—it’s because of you that we’ve been able to make this happen. We’re still waiting to hear more about the medical bills, so we’ll leave the GoFundMe open for now.
‘The most important thing is that we’re finally getting Mum home. We’re so, so grateful to every one of you.’
Emma had previously said that the cost of a dedicated air ambulance to bring her mother back home was £130,000.
Patricia is a former cleaner and factory worker. According to her family she had considered getting health insurance for the trip, but when it was quoted at around £3,000 she decided to go without it.
Five days before she was scheduled to fly home on November 3, Patricia passed out in her hotel bathroom and was rushed to hospital.
Patricia’s family started a GoFundMe earlier this month to raise enough money to bring her back home to the UK in an air ambulance
The 76-year-old, who is currently catheterised and immobile, has been stuck on US soil ever since falling ill – whilst her medical bills soared on a daily basis
A total of £40,000 was raised to help get Patricia home and Emma thanked all of those who donated for their ‘kindness and generosity’
As well as contracting Covid and pneumonia, she also suffered a gastrointestinal bleed and blood clots in her legs.
Patricia receives a state pension and since her bus driver husband Joseph died of a heart attack in 1993, she also receives a small widow’s pension.
Her family said that she was determined to have one final foreign holiday with her grandson William, who is 23 and has autism.
The pair were joined on their three-week trip to Walt Disney World in Florida by her unemployed sons Paul, 40, (Emma’s twin brother) and David, 42, who both live with their mother in Wigan.
Earlier this month a spokesman for Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips Hospital described Mrs Bunting’s condition as ‘serious’.
In a statement, the hospital added: ‘Although we can’t comment on specific patient cases, Orlando Health has a longstanding generous financial assistance program for patients who have limited or no resources to pay for medically necessary services rendered at an Orlando Health facility.
‘Orlando is a popular international tourist destination and we encourage all visitors to consider purchasing travel insurance for unexpected, emergency medical expenses.’
