Target hit for E.coli teacher to f ly home
Web appeal raises £31k
A TEACHER stuck in a Turkish hospital since contracting E.coli could return home today after a crowdfunding appeal raised £31,000 to fly her home.
Caroline Hope, 37, picked up the potentially deadly infection during surgery for advanced colon cancer last month.
The 37-year-old English teacher, who has been living in Turkey for four years, decided to return to Scotland after her cancer was diagnosed in January. But complications from the surgery left her fighting for her life at Medical Park Hospital in Izmir.
Desperate to bring her home, her family and friends have now raised enough money to pay for a private charter flight, given Turkey’s strict controls on evacuating patients.
Speaking yesterday, her mother Catherine Hope, 74, of Clydebank, confirmed: ‘They are hoping to do it tomorrow.
‘I’m really relieved. I’m absolutely delighted she is coming home. We didn’t expect this to happen. We thought she would be home in a few days after her operation. I’ve had to wait at the end of the phone, jumping when it rings.
‘We just want her home where she can be taken care of.’
Mrs Hope had booked a plane ticket to be at her daughter’s bedside. But her son Scott, who travelled from his home in Cape Town to be with his sister, called her in time to say that the funds had now been raised to get her home. Mrs Hope said her daughter is due to fly into Glasgow Airport to attend hospital to continue her chemotherapy.
She added: ‘The money from the fundraising won’t go into the bank until July 12, so I have had to pay out all the £29,000 myself. I’ve used all my savings. I’ve also been paying for her operations – her insurance wouldn’t cover it. It’s been very difficult but I’ve managed to scrape the money together.
‘It’s been a very stressful week but we are all optimistic Caroline will get the treatment she needs when she gets back.’
Mrs Hope said she was overwhelmed by the support but added: ‘The Government should have something in place. Not everybody has the wherewithal to cover these costs.’
Her daughter first realised something was wrong when she suffered a shortness of breath after a flight from South Africa.
Fearing she had deep vein thrombosis, she went to see a doctor but was instead given the news she had cancer. She had completed her chemotherapy and looked to have beaten the disease when she was struck down by E.coli.
Her bowel was then perforated during treatment, putting her life in danger.
She needed three operations and has been in hospital since June 12.
The case was raised this week in the Commons by Nationalist MP Martin Docherty-Hughes, who urged Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to intervene.
Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom said that she was ‘incredibly sympathetic’ to Miss Hope’s case.