Thank you for getting me home
Daily Record readers help raise £32k for Caroline’s air ambulance.
A TEACHER who almost died after catching the deadly E.coli bug in a Turkish hospital is back home in Scotland – and she has thanked Record readers for coming to her aid.
Caroline Hope, 37, was terrified she would die in a hospital thousands of miles away from her loved ones after catching the infection while being treated for stage 4 cancer.
But, following an online appeal backed by the Record, her family raised £32,000 to fly her home.
She landed in Scotland at the weekend after being flown in via air ambulance.
Although shattered by what she has been through and facing a long recuperation, Caroline is delighted to be back.
Her brother Scott told how it was the Record raising awareness of Caroline’s situation that got the ball rolling and led to a bigger response than anyone could have imagined. He said: “We were expecting to be out there for a lengthy period of time. But, after the Record got the story out, what happened was unbelievable.
“People were helping us so much, sending messages full of good wishes and obviously donating – it changed the situation completely, for Caroline and for all of our family.
“People in Scotland and Scottish people around the world have been so supportive.
“Caroline is so grateful to the Record and the readers, she truly is. Words cannot express how thankful she is for everything – every time she tries to sum it up she gets emotional.
“It’s like the sun has shone on her and everything is getting better.” Carol is now in hospital in Glasgow and Scott said she is feeling positive.
Caroline, from Clydebank, had already come through life-saving surgery and chemotherapy to rid her of colon cancer at the Medical Park Hospital in Izmir when she was struck with E.coli. The English teacher was working and living in Turkey at the time.
Asking for help from the UK Government, she said: “I do not want to die in a Turkish hospital.”
After being told by the British Consulate in Turkey that UK nationals are not repatriated for medical reasons, family and friends launched an online fundraising appeal to cover the costs of flying her to Scotland.
Caroline’s plight was highlighted by the Record, with the story prompting dozens of donations within hours. The JustGiving page eventually raised more than £32,000.
She is now at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and is expected to be transferred to the Beatson Institute, who specialise in cancer care.
Caroline moved to Turkey four years ago, after deciding she wanted to teach in a warm climate.
But after a blood clot in her lung led to a diagnosis of cancer earlier this year her dream life in the sun was thrown into turmoil. After chemotherapy and surgery, she was declared cancer-free.
She had planned to return to Scotland permanently.
However, her recovery was derailed when she became infected with E.coli during an operation to remove a tumour last month. Scott added: “She tells me she’s had a great welcome at the hospital – the nurses and doctors treating her couldn’t be better.
“She has, probably, a long recovery ahead but we’re hopeful now. The outlook has
changed.”
Words cannot express how thankful she is for everything SCOTT HOPE