Ian Wright, 47, and his wife Sarah, from Northumberland, were on holiday in Cyprus when he suddenly became very ill and he is currently in in Nicosia General Hospital
The family of a British man are facing a staggering bill of more than £40,000 to fly him home after he became seriously ill while on holiday in Cyprus, leaving him on dialysis, a ventilator and multi-organ support.
Ian Wright, 47, was watching Newcastle’s 1-0 defeat to Arsenal with friends he and wife Sarah had flown out to visit in Tala, near Paphos, when he became unwell ill, just six days into the holiday. Sarah initially suspected Ian had food poisoning, but he was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis with necrosis soon after being admitted to a medical centre in Tala.
Haulage worker Ian has been in Nicosia General Hospital since Friday, May 30, and has spent much of that time on dialysis, a ventilator and multi-organ support.
Ian’s mum Monica Muckle, 67, flew out to the Mediterranean island and has been by his side since May 22. She is desperate to bring her son back to their hometown of Cramlington, Northumberland.
However, for Ian to make the journey home in his current condition, he would need to be flown by private jet accompanied by a doctor and paramedic at a cost of £40,995. The family are fast running out of money to prolong their stay in Cyprus, with Monica telling ChronicleLive: “We are absolutely heartbroken because if we have to go home on Monday, he’s here on his own.
“The thought of it is just horrendous. He knows we’re there, and the thought of going in on Sunday and saying to him we’ve got to go home and not even be able to tell him that he’s going to be following us because we just don’t know.”
Ian and Sarah have an annual travel insurance policy, but Ian did not declare that he had seen medics about high blood pressure and high uric acid in the UK. Therefore, Ian’s travel company AXA have declined to pay out.
A GoFundMe page was set up by Sarah’s friend and colleague, Lucy Wareing, which has raised almost £9,000. That was originally to cover the family’s expenses in Cyprus before the full severity of his case was known.
However, they are trying to use as little of that as possible, so that they can put any money raised towards Ian’s repatriation. Monica said: “We’re trying to keep hold of money we have got from the fund. We want him home and we don’t want to be spending money that’s going to go towards helping him to get home.”
The family hope that they could use Ian’s workplace pension to cover some of his repatriation costs, but do not know how long it will take them to access it. Monica says she has been working until the early hours of each morning contacting charities, but most support families in repatriating loved ones who have died abroad.
They are also in contact with the British Consulate in Cyprus, who are helping the family with translation and interpreting, and getting regular updates from the hospital. Monica said: “As you get older, you realise how important it is to put things like that on the travel insurance. We’re not holding out any hope where that is concerned.
“We’re not trying to scrounge, that’s why we’re looking into the pensions because if we can get that, maybe it won’t be enough for all of it, but it could cover a fair proportion and maybe we can crack on getting family and friends to help us a bit more. We don’t want to beg for money, we want to be able to get the money through whatever ways we can. We’re still having to take it a day at a time, but we just want him home.”