Life Flight to USA for Tiffany’s Emergency Surgery

We are living a real life nightmare that I hope no one ever has to face. My sister, Tiffany Hall Wallace, is in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. She had a hemorrhagic stroke (bleeding in the brain), which is a life threatening emergency, and is in a coma. She is a veteran, and has insurance through the Veterans Affairs (VA). Unfortunately American insurance does not pay for treatment in foreign countries, nor do they pay for transport to the US for medical care. She needs an emergency craniotomy to drain the hematoma and repair the ruptured blood vessels in her brain. They will not do the surgery in Mexico without an upfront payment of $31,000 US dollars, which is just a startup payment, and has the potential to easily escalate to hundreds of thousands of dollars required upfront. The “indigent” hospital she is at is not equipped for critical patients, nor to perform surgeries. No one there speaks English, so we’re relying on an external liaison for communication. She is not even in a private ICU room; instead she’s in a public bay with 13 other patients, no AC, and flies all around her. All the while she is unresponsive, on a ventilator, and fighting for her life. She laid on the floor unconscious 2-3 days following the hemorrhagic stroke before she was found. She has a stage 4 sacral pressure injury, resulting in septic shock with multi-system organ failure. Her prognosis is grim. Our only chance is to have her flown home via air ambulance for the emergency surgery and treatment. MedWay can fly her on the ventilator to the US for surgery, but it will cost $24,000 (full amount due before they can schedule the air ambulance). Patients with intracranial hemorrhage must fly at a lower altitude to reduce cabin pressure and therefore reduce pressure in the brain. If we can get her home, her insurance will pay for surgery and all further care that is needed. Any amount will help and will be greatly appreciated. We are desperate to get her home for life-saving care.