Mum stranded in Spain after suffering brain aneurysm

Tina Bond, from Harleston, Norfolk, flew out to Mallorca on September 21st to visit her sister-in-law Michelle Pinnegar, 61, who lives in Cala d'Or.

Just one day after touching down on the Balearic island, the 57-year-old collapsed in the shower.

After finding Tina, a worried Michelle called an ambulance and within 30 minutes she was rushed to Manacor hospital in Alcudia.

Just one day after touching down on the Balearic island, the 57-year-old collapsed in the shower. (Image: Kennedy News and Media) Doctors told Michelle that Tina had suffered a brain aneurysm, a subarachnoid haemorrhage, and that she also had pneumonia caused by the aneurysm.

The-mum-of-one was rushed into emergency surgery where doctors drained the bleed on her brain and fitted cannulas.

The next day Tina was transferred to Son Espases hospital in Palma where she remained on life support for three weeks. Doctors woke her up from the sedation slowly and she's now been in hospital for seven weeks.

Tina's Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) covered her emergency hospital stay but, as she didn't take out travel insurance, she needs to cover the cost of an air ambulance home.

Tina's daughter Zoe Reeve was unable to jet out to her mum's bedside straight away as her passport had expired, so had an agonising four-day wait for her fast-track passport.

The 28-year-old care assistant has now set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money to foot the estimated £23,000 bill to bring Tina home.

Zoe, from Norwich, Norfolk, said: "Words can't describe when it first happened, my heart felt like it stopped beating.

"Just feeling so helpless being all the way back home and not being able to come and see Mum straight away was heartbreaking.

"Apparently it can happen to anyone. It's just something that can explode at any time, it's really scary.

"My aunty called me and I flew out on the 26th. That was the closest I could come out because unfortunately my passport had expired.

"The waiting game until I finally got the appointment and my flight, was horrible and hard. I just felt so helpless every single day before I could come over here.

"She had cannulas and everything, drainage things put in her head to relieve all the pressure and she had a cannula to stop the bleed.

"She also had pneumonia when she came in because when she collapsed she was making this awful gurgling noise and that fluid went onto her lungs.

"The life support was doing everything for her for the three weeks she was in the coma for. After three weeks they started to take off the sedation very slowly.

"We weren't even one hundred percent sure if she would pull through from all of this.

"Luckily she fought all the hurdles that were thrown her way.

"She wasn't really aware of what's going on, she could ever-so-slightly move her fingertips and every day since then it's just been moving a bit more and a bit more.

"Just over a week ago she got moved to the rehabilitation ward and now she's not on any oxygen.

"She's just got a tracheotomy fitted and she's being fed through a tube still. She's regained strength in her arms and a little bit in her legs again.

"She's able to hold her head again but she's still very very weak at the moment."

Although Zoe said doctors are hopeful Tina can make strides in her recovery, they warned she has a 'very long road ahead' .

Now Zoe is urging anyone travelling abroad to take out travel insurance.

Zoe said: "With the language barriers over here I would like to get Mum back home to England to go to a hospital closer to home where she can finish off her rehabilitation.

"She's very loved at home, the whole town is really looking forward to when Mum comes home.

"They have been so supportive throughout this time and it really has gone to show how much Mum is loved.

"She brings the light to the room, she's very happy, bubbly, kind, caring and she's a very strong woman and I think she's definitely proved that throughout this whole journey.

"I'm the only child as well so things have been quite difficult.

"At the moment my family are able to cover the cost but that's a lot of money to put on them.

"I thought anything that we can raise [from the fundraiser] would take the pressure off what my family are able to donate and any extra can go to charity.

"Friends are also helping out with the amount and it's lucky that family and friends have got a little bit of money behind them to be able to help towards getting Mum back."

Zoe said what's happened to Tina should be a warning to other travellers about the importance of taking out insurance, even when you haven't needed it before.

Zoe said: "Unfortunately this time she didn't get travel insurance to come over but I know that a lot of travel insurance doesn't actually cover the repatriation travel.

"I think that's something you have to put in extra when looking at certain insurances so even if Mum would have had normal travel insurance it wouldn't have been covered anyway, I believe.

"I think because she's been coming over to see my aunty once a year for 28 years, you don't think of anything like this happening.

"Obviously it's a big awareness [raiser] that we should all definitely do it, I think that's just something that she hasn't done because of how often she's come out here previously.

"You think you're just going on a little holiday to enjoy yourself and come back home again.

"It's definitely worth getting travel insurance."

You can donate to the fundraiser here https://www.gofundme.com/f/xuwj2-get-mum-home

The family hope to have Tina home soon so she can continue her rehabilitation and physiotherapy in England.

Zoe said: "I'm feeling positive about my mum's rehabilitation. She has been improving each day for the last week. It's amazing the strength that you have that you don't realise to be able to keep going through such a hard time.

"My aunty has been an absolute hero through this, driving from Cala d'Or to Palma every single day to bring us to see Mum and sit by her bedside.

"Just hearing her speak for the first time was just so emotional. Every little thing, positive steps that she can do now, is amazing."