Painful ordeal for family as son has legs amputated after illness in US
THE family of an Anglesey man who has had both legs amputated and is awaiting heart valve surgery following a blood infection have flown out to be by his side after he fell ill in America.
Carwyn Edwards, 39, from Bodedern has been living in Phoenix, Arizona, for 13 years.
Three weeks ago his parents received a devastating phone call from an American hospital asking for Carwyn’s next of kin to be by his side.
He had been for regular visits to the doctor before Christmas complaining of weight loss and feeling dehydrated and after being signed off work for six weeks a GP diagnosed him with diabetes.
But less than a month later he was found in a coma at his home and was airlifted to Banner University Medical Centre Hospital in Tucson, Arizona.
Carwyn’s sister-in-law Sara Edwards said: “He’s in a stable but critical condition.
“He had a bacterial infection in his blood which has settled on his heart valve.
“There’s bacterial growth of around 2cm which means his heart isn’t working properly.
“It has also caused blood clots through his body and there’s a clot on his brain which has caused a brain haemorrhage.
“There was no blood going to his leg and he had to have his left leg amputated above the knee.”
When Carwyn’s parents Meirion and Eluned received the call, Meirion and their other two sons, Aled and Ieuan, flew to Arizona.
Sara said: “It was touch and go and we really weren’t sure if he would still be alive when his dad and brothers arrived.
“By the time they got there his left leg had been amputated. We weren’t sure what was going to happen with his right leg but on Friday morning he had to have it amputated as well.”
During the second operation his heart stopped twice and the medical team managed to resuscitate him.
He is now waiting for surgery to replace his heart valve tomorrow.
Each operation causes a high risk of stroke and hospital staff told the family he has already had a series of small strokes in the last three weeks.
Sara said that although Carwyn, who recently started a new job working for a health insurance company, does have medical insurance it only covers 85% of the costs and that he is responsible for paying the remaining 15%.
The cost to date is unknown and the hospital cannot give an estimation of the bill they should be expecting.
Sara said the cost of him being airlifted from one hospital to another came to 30,000 US Dollars.
“I can’t even imagine how much the rest of the treatment is going to cost,” Sara added.
“Healthcare is so expensive in America and I think we often take our healthcare in the UK for granted and don’t realise how lucky we are to have free care.
“He’s already had three operations – the first was to try to remove the clots and then two amputations – and he’s due for another one on Monday. There could also be possible rehabilitation costs but our main concern for now is to have him alive.
“Our fundraising target is £100,000 but we have no idea how much the total will be and it could end up being a lot more.”
Last week Carwyn regained consciousness and was able to communicate briefly with his father and brothers.
Sara said: “He managed to ask when his dad and brothers were going home and when they told him they would be there for a long time he put his hand on his heart.”