Catherine Harrison, 86, suffered a fall and fractured her back which has left her in extreme pain while needing treatment in Turkey during a holiday with her family
A great grandma has been stranded in a hospital in Turkey after she suffered a horror accident during her holiday. Catherine Harrison, 86, was just two days into a visit to Antalya, Turkey, with her family when she fell in the shower and fractured her back.
The fall left Catherine in extreme pain for several days before her family ended up taking her to a private hospital. Catherine’s great granddaughter Amaya Harrison said: “She fell and landed on her back. My mum and her partner were there at the time and they brought her back into her bedroom and tried to put cold ice packs and cold sprays.
“She was bed bound for three days so we had to send her to a hospital that was recommended by the hotel we were staying at. She’s not really been able to talk because she’s been crying in pain. But she’s been telling us not to worry or stress, but I know she’s the one that is stressing.”
Amaya added there were problems with Catherine’s care at the first ward but that she was moved later. The 21-year-old added: “They are trying to feed her, going out and finding her food so hopefully it’ll be okay.”
Amaya, her siblings and her mum’s partner have returned to Manchester while mum Joanne stayed with Catherine who remains in hospital. Travel insurance was taken out for Catherine but not Joanne.
The family has contacted insurance companies but they claim they were not given much “help or advice”. The family, from Moss Side, Manchester, is now trying to raise £56,000 to bring Catherine home.
“They’re saying it’s going to cost us £56,000 to get her home because she can’t fly a normal commercial flight,” Amaya told Manchester Evening News.
“She has to be on a stretcher because she has to lay flat. She also needs a doctor because my Nana has loads of other healthcare conditions and it’s a high risk for her to come home.
“My mum is beating herself up because she can’t be at home and she can’t get Nana home. It’s one of those hard, hard situations that we’re trying to go through. We have quite a big family and my Nana is at the centre of it. She was the youngest of five children and she’s the only one left.
“A lot of us are panicking here in Manchester, trying to scrape pennies together to get her home. It has been hard, especially to my younger siblings, they don’t really understand the severity of the situation as of yet. We’re really just trying to get it together.”
The GoFundMe page has raised £3,470 out of the £53,000 target.