The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
‘Our new life starts now’ – fighter Cally back home
‘STRONG LITTLE GIRL’: Mother says youngster has surprised everyone
An Angus girl who was left in a coma after a Spanish holiday tragedy has finally returned home.
Cally Simpson almost drowned at a Salou pool in June and stayed in a number of Spanish hospitals before flying back to Scotland for treatment.
She was initially treated in the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh before being transferred to Ninewells in Dundee.
She emerged from the coma last year under the supervision of doctors who slowly reduced her medication.
Cally’s mum, Kate Miller, said she is delighted with her daughter’s progress and threw a special party to celebrate her return to their new home in Arbroath. Kate will now look after her wheelchair-bound daughter, who will require long-term care.
She said: “Our new life starts now. We’ll do all the normal things that we haven’t been able to do over the past 12 or so months.
“There were a lot of times that I thought there was no chance this was going to happen but Cally has surprised everyone. She is a strong little girl.”
The accident happened at the Hotel Villamarina in Salou, about 70 miles from Barcelona, where Cally was on her first foreign holiday with her father Steven Simpson and other family members. She was rushed to a children’s hospital in Barcelona as mum Kate battled an air traffic control dispute to make the dash to be by her daughter’s bedside.
In the aftermath of the holiday incident, a Saving Cally Simpson Facebook page was flooded with messages of support from across the globe. With more than 7,000 likes, it continues to be used by the family for updates on the little girl’s positive progress.
When the accident first happened she was told that it was very unlikely Cally would survive. In January it was revealed Cally was enjoying attending nursery at Armitstead Child Care Development Centre in Dundee twice a week. She suffered a fractured knee due to intense physiotherapy earlier this year but made a quick recovery.