Quad bike crash gran in a coma
MUCH LOVED MOTHER IN A COMA AFTER QUAD BIKE ACCIDENT
A BLYTH gran is in a Greek hospital after a quad bike accident left her in a coma.
Tracie Harrison, 52, was on the holiday of a lifetime in sun-drenched Zante with best pal Wendy Sears when tragedy struck.
The pair were turning a bend on a quad bike when they hit a hole in the road, flipping the bike and leaving Tracie with catastrophic injuries.
Tracie, who works with troubled schoolchildren in North Tyneside, was airlifted from Zante to hospital in Ioannina on the Greek mainland.
She is currently in intensive care and in a coma with brain trauma, having had part of her skull removed, as well as chest injuries and a broken pelvis.
Wendy, also 52, suffered a broken ankle and is back in the UK receiving treatment following the accident on Friday, June 9.
But the insurance company say they do not cover quad bike accidents and are refusing to pay out for Tracie, leaving the family facing a bill of thousands of pounds.
Tracie’s mum, Terri Brand, and her 30-year-old daughter Rachael, have flown out to be by her side.
Terri, 68, said: “This is a really difficult time. Visiting the hospital is like hell in paradise. We are only allowed to spend 30 minutes with Tracie because it’s an ICU and Rachael has to spend 10 minutes of that talking to a specialist.
“You have to psych yourself up before you walk on to the ward. I have to stay positive and I talk to Tracie all the time, about anything and everything. Yesterday a tear rolled down her cheek. It’s just so stressful. The ICU is clean but it’s not up to our standards. And there is another English couple here whose daughter spent time on a normal ward and they said it was dirty. We want to get her home. We might be able to fly her back to Newcastle but first we need to be told she’s stable and she’s OK to fly back.
“She’s done so much for the community in Blyth. She has worked hard, she’s a proud, independent woman and now she needs help.”
Rachael said holiday operator Thomas Cook has been a fantastic help to the family, but they are having trouble understanding what the Greek doctors are trying to tell them.
On Monday, they are hoping the British Embassy will send a translator, so they can move towards bringing Tracie home.
Tracie, from Blyth, Northumberland, is grandmother to nine-yearold Cameron and Evie, 17 months, and helps keep troubled children in education at George Stephenson High School in North Tyneside.
Rachael, a mental health worker, said: “Mum is such an amazing woman. She’s so strong, positive and caring. She used to work in a prison, helping with inmates’ education. She touched so many people’s lives and made so many friends.”
Already, friends and loved ones have raised thousands of pounds but the family fear the price of getting the grandmother back to the North East could spiral.
Rachael added: “It would mean the world to have her home. Her grandchildren Cameron and Evie are waiting for her. We just want this nightmare to be over.”
To help bring Tracie home, visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/TracieH