Keeping treatment going for Mark

Hi everyone, firstly thank you for taking the time to read our story, it’s something that as a family I never thought we would have to do but sometimes things happen and you have to reach out and ask for the help of your family and friends.

On the 19th November 2022 my stepdad Mark was at home with my mum in Turkey when he suffered a heart attack. He was transferred to a private hospital for treatment. As they didn’t have the specialist treatment or intensive care bed available he was transferred to the state hospital in Aydin which is approx 3 hours away from their home. Unfortunately during the journey Mark suffered another two heart attacks.

Since then which is now over 4 months ) Mark has been in a coma on a ventilator with no response, they have tried lots of different methods to try and get him to wake up but nothing, they have now performed a brain scan and have advised that if Mark was to wake up he would be brain damaged due to the length of time he has been in a coma which is heartbreaking for us all. We have asked the question about moving him either to nearer to their home or back to the uk, they have now said it’s unlikely that Mark will come around from this but as Turkey is a Muslim country it is illegal to switch off life support machines so we just have to take it day by day.

Myself, mum and our family have going to the hospital as much as we can to visit but it’s a 6 hour round bus journey and you are only allowed in for 10 minutes which isn’t a lot but we have to keep trying in the hope that something changes.

Mark has medical insurance but unfortunately as the claim is within the first 12 months of the policy being taken out we are unable to claim - it isn’t worth the paper it’s written on!

The medical bill is rising daily and is currently approaching £45,000 and the cost to repatriate is approx £42,000 and we don’t know how long this will carry on. I have been in touch with the British consulate and other people to try and get help but there is nothing they can do at the minute and they all say “ you have to give it time” hence why as a family we have decided to launch this page to try and take a little bit of pressure of my mum in this sad and tragic situation.

Any help towards the medical bills that anyone could give us would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again for reading

Sending love to you all

Nic xx