PLEASE HELP US MR HUNT
Mum’s plea over Cambodia stroke son
THE mother of a Scots tourist who is on life support in a hospital in Cambodia has begged Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt to help bring her son home. Esther McLaughlin fears 38-year-old Charles, who suffered a massive stroke, only has days to live unless he’s flown to the UK for specialist treatment. She penned a heartbreaking letter to the Tory minister from Charles’s bedside. Esther wrote: “You are my last hope, the final person I can turn to. “Please, please bring my boy home.”
A DEVASTATED mum has penned an emotional letter to Jeremy Hunt, begging the Foreign Secretary to fly her critically ill son home before he dies in a foreign hospital.
Charles McLaughlin’s mother Esther fears her boy has only days to live if he’s not brought back from Cambodia for urgent treatment.
The 38-year-old suffered a massive stroke and is on life support with two blood clots on his brain.
The Record revealed last week that his family face a £100,000 bill to pay for treatment and fund a specially equipped medical flight to bring Charles home.
They’ve raised more than £43,000 but say their only hope now is for Hunt to personally intervene.
Esther said she’s been badly let down after the Foreign Office refused her pleas for an emergency loan.
Charles, originally from Gourock in Renfrewshire, was found unconscious in a flat in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh on September 6.
He went travelling after being made redundant from his advisory role with HSBC in London. But after extending his stay in Cambodia, his travel insurance expired, leaving him liable for medical expenses.
Esther has flown to south-east Asia to be by her son’s side as he fights for survival.
In her heartbreaking letter, she says Hunt is her “last and only hope” of saving her son’s life.
She writes: “Can you imagine the feeling of sheer helplessness as your son or daughter fights for their life, while all you can do is hold their hand and pray for a miracle?
“As a parent, it is the loneliest place in the world. It is where I am every day, a nightmare I can’t wake up from without your assistance.
“We have exhausted all of our fundraising efforts and you are my last hope, the final person I can turn to.
“I’m begging you, not as a politician, but as a parent. You have the power to intervene and bring Charles back to his family, back to our amazing doctors and nurses where he can receive the life-saving treatment he desperately needs.”
The Foreign Office can provide funding to British nationals in trouble abroad – but only in “exceptional circumstances”.
Their website states: “In some
This is a nightmare I can’t wake up from without your help ESTHER McLAUGHLIN MUM’S PLEA TO HUNT
situations, and only when all other options have been exhausted, we can pay some costs or fees on your behalf – for example, travel costs, travel documents, cash advances, charter flight costs – when you agree to sign an Undertaking to Repay form, which we will provide for you”.
Esther, who dedicated years of her life to the NHS as a midwife, said she feels abandoned by the Government.
She has applied to remortgage
her house, while her daughters Lyndsay and Jennifer have taken out loans – but the £100,000 they need to bring Charles back to Scotland is beyond their reach.
Esther said: “I’ve tried everything I can think of to bring Charles home. I just hope Jeremy shows some compassion and does the right thing.
“Charles doesn’t deserve to be in this situation, nobody does.
“I’d give anything to swap places with him, but all I can do is keep hoping and praying that he will pull through.”
West of Scotland Labour MSP Neil Bibby has also sent a letter to Hunt urging him to intervene.
It states: “I am writing to you with extreme urgency regarding the situation of Charles McLaughlin, originally from the west of Scotland region which I represent, who is in a critical condition in Cambodia after suffering a massive stroke. I understand that you are aware of the situation.
“I would ask that you personally intervene in this matter in order that Charles’s family receive every support necessary to bring him home for treatment as soon as possible.”
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “Our thoughts are with Charles’s family at this extremely difficult time.
“While our staff continue to do all they can to support them, the FCO are not funded to provide financial assistance to British people overseas.
“In exceptional circumstances, we can provide a small emergency loan to help someone return to the UK.
“These loans are for a one-way economy airfare and cannot be used to cover the costs of medical repatriation or to pay medical bills.
“Medical emergencies in another country can be very expensive and it is important to take out comprehensive travel insurance before travelling abroad.”
Support the family’s appeal at www.gofundme.com/ brother-on-life-support-help.
CHARLES McLaughlin is running out of options.
The 38-year-old Scot, from Greenock, is incapacitated in a Cambodian hospital with two blood clots on his brain.
He can’t be treated there and his chances are diminishing every day. His life could be saved if he is flown back to the UK at the cost of £100,000.
So far his family have raised £43,000 but have now run out of places to go.
Charles’s mother Esther, who has flown to be by his side, fears her son has only days left to live if he is not brought back from Cambodia for urgent treatment.
She has written a heartfelt, emotional and deeply personal letter to UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, appealing to him to intervene and save her son’s life.
We know what the civil service advice will be, about setting a precedent, about rules on loans and how medical repatriation cannot be covered.
But Hunt has the power to approve an emergency loan in certain circumstances.
As a minister, he has the power to decide and he holds Charles’s life in his hands.
More importantly, as a father to three children himself, he must know exactly how much Esther needs him to do the right thing.
For all the trappings of high office, it is rare that a politician can actually make a difference to people’s lives that is immediate and effective.
For Hunt, this is one of these moments.
Should he choose he can offer the funds to the McLaughlin family. It would be more than a compassionate gesture, it would be a lifesaver.