My mum spent two years saving up for a dream USA holiday- now she's got Covid and is fighting for her life
A British nan has been left fighting for her life in the USA after she caught Covid on a dream trip she spent more than two years saving up for.
Patricia Bunting, 76, remains in hospital in Florida, two weeks after taking poorly during a family holiday to Walt Disney World which she'd spent two years saving for. Now her anxious family have launched a fundraising appeal to cover the cost of medical bills and have raised more than £27,000 of the £80,000 target.
Patricia, from Wigan, Gtr Manchester, has been left bed-ridden since she contracted Covid and has refused intubation for fear she wouldn't wake up. Worried daughter Emma, who flew out to the US to be by her mum's bedside, said: "She’s still heavily reliant on oxygen, she’s had two blood transfusions and is currently battling her second bout of pneumonia.
"She’s on morphine for pain relief, it’s hard for my mum as she already has COPD and arterial fibrillation plus contracting covid and influenza, she’s not a well lady at all."
Mum-of-four Patricia, a widow, couldn't afford the £3,000 travel insurance quoted to her for the trip due to pre-existing conditions chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and atrial fibrillation (AF), which causes an abnormal and erratic heart rate.
But because she feared it may be her last ever trip to the US - which she dubbed her 'happy place' - due to her age and poor health, she flew out without cover.
She spent five days in intensive care at Orlando's Dr P Phillips Hospital after being found passed out in the bathroom. She had earlier complained of exhaustion on November 23 before she was discovered.
She is now in a critical care unit after being treated for Covid and pneumonia. Her sons and grandson had to take their scheduled flight home on November 28 after running out of money.
Emma said the British Embassy in Miami had been unable to help, only asking how they planned to pay the medical bills. The hospital had been able to help with low cost accommodation, but the average healthcare spending per head in the US was $12,555 (£9,800) in 2022, according to analysts.