Bali mum’s closer to flying home
Sophie Hartley would do anything for her mum to wake up in Bali and laugh at what a fuss everyone has been making.
It could be months, even years, before Hamilton mum of two Abby Hartley wakes up.
She’s been in a coma for almost a month after being rushed to hospital with a twisted bowel on the first day of her second honeymoon.
But getting her home is possible after a Givealittle page raised $237,000. It was set up to help the family cover more than $268,000 in medical bills and emergency flight costs.
Now the $168,000 emergency aircraft is paid for, Abby can leave as soon as she’s stable enough to fly, Sophie said yesterday.
However, her condition changes every day and the medical bills climb every week.
The Givealittle page was set up after her travel insurance company declined cover.
The company will be named at some stage, Sophie said, but not until Abby is home and things have calmed down. The family just want to avoid further stress.
Donations closed after $237,000 was raised.
The family will cover the rest. Sophie was left speechless by the amount raised.
A boy named Harry had even donated his entire pocket money.
‘‘I do read every single one of [donators] comments,’’ Sophie said.
‘‘If we could go to everyone’s house personally and say thank you, we’d do it in a heartbeat.’’
Abby and husband Richard had planned to renew their vows after 18 years of marriage on their holiday.
When Abby’s condition grew dire, Richard told their children, Sophie and Toby, to get on the first flight to Bali.
Emergency surgery on Abby’s bowel had led to complications, including acute respiratory distress syndrome, kidney failure and septicaemia.
Seeing her on a hospital bed, attached to tubes and swaddled with cooling blankets, was a shock, Sophie said.
‘‘[Toby] is only 16. He should never have to see his mum like that.
‘‘I looked at her and thought, I’d do anything to wake you up right now. For you to look at Toby and say, it’s OK, I’m OK.’’
Sophie – now back in Hamilton operating the family tiling business – sat with Abby and plaited her hair, painted her nails and chatted about normal things.
And sometimes she seemed to be able to hear her.
When Sophie played Pink’s song F...ing Perfect in hospital a few weeks ago, Abby seemed to respond.
‘‘It’s mine and Mum’s song, it’s like her song to me,’’ Sophie said.
A video recording shows Abby’s eyelids fluttering and then opening.
‘‘It’s really hard to watch ...that was kind of my breaking point.’’
Sophie said Abby is everyone’s ‘‘second mum’’, the kind of mum who chats to strangers in shops and drives into town to pick up her Sophie’s friends if they’ve had too much to drink.
Her mother’s touch isn’t lost on the family home.
Photographs and pictures colour the walls and a to-do list has been left on a clipboard, perched on the windowsill.
Abby scribbled ‘‘love you guys’’ in the top right corner.
Things may never be the same for the Hartley family. They know Abby has suffered some brain damage, but no one will know the extent of the damage until she wakes up.
The doctors will probably be able to tell when she’s close to waking up, Sophie said. Her vitals will change and her fingers will begin to twitch.
‘‘She’s probably going to be like – at first – what’s all this fuss about?
‘‘Then I can imagine she’ll be very proud of us.’’
‘‘If we could go to everyone’s house personally and say thank you, we’d do it in a heartbeat.’’ Sophie Hartley