Operation Haggis: Air Ambulance Maureen Back to UK
Donation protected
We desperately need to raise money to help with Maureen’s medical costs in Turkey and ultimately medically transport her back to UK to her family.
Maureen is a wonderful Scottish lady with a wicked sense of humour despite all she has been through. She is now 74 years old with two daughters and four grandchildren.
One daughter lives in UK and another daughter in the USA. She was affectionately nicknamed “Granny Haggis” by her grandchildren when they were young due to her Scottish roots and the nickname has stuck!
Maureen aka ‘Haggis’, used to live alone in Cornwall as a result of an abusive marriage and she ended up with very little in material terms.
This marriage ended when her ex was sentenced for her assault in 2002. So Haggis has been single for last twenty years but has lots of great friends.
In 2016 she travelled with family to Fethiye, Turkey her first holiday in decades.
When family went back to UK, Maureen ended up staying, she lived on her state pension and her family helped her with costs of renting a small apartment.
For years Maureen was fit and happy. She joined in with the expat community with lots of friends and helping in local charities and finally we thought she would live out her days somewhere beautiful after all of the trauma she has suffered.
She is an active member of the Fethiye Christian Church and has devoted her life to helping others.
Covid restrictions in 2020 & 2021 meant being isolated and fully locked down for months. The restrictions were much more extreme than the UK, with older people not being allowed outside their property for weeks.
This period of time took a terrible toll on Maureen’s physical and mental health and she deteriorated. Maureen then had a bad fall and broke her shoulder, this alone costs thousands to operate on, which family paid for and friends helped her recover from.
This accident and the operations marked an obvious decline in Maureen and highlighted some underlying issues.
Not long after Maureen suffered some internal bleeding, caused by gastrointestinal problems.
She has on several occasions has been blue lighted into hospital in Turkey where she has been terrified and unable to speak the language or understand what’s being done to her.
On Christmas 2021 she had a similar bleed and after being stabilised she was convinced by family to return to UK to live.
She managed to get a normal flight, stayed with family for several months and got stronger with new medication prescribed.
Against everyone’s advice however, she wanted to go back to Turkey. She said she wanted see her friends as she had left in a rush, but she would make a decision, about her long term situation. She was in contact with her NHS doctor who was reviewing options.
The condition led to another bleed in November 2022 and she was rushed into hospital again and then transferred to a more specialised hospital. Family were told it was doubtful she would survive the night, but she did and within a couple weeks was discharged but unable to walk or be left by herself.
All this time one friend of Maureens, has stuck by her, staying by her bedside, sleeping in hospitals and even contributing to the bills. Driving miles and miles and helping with personal care. She has been the one trying to liaise between doctors and family but we cannot expect her to do this long term.
Maureen’s condition will likely eventually be fatal, but at the moment costs are around £250-£500 per day in the hospitals. Operations would be intrusive and would have upfront costs of at least £3000 which is not including after care costs.
Maureen understandably doesn’t want any more operations as she knows these are likely to kill her and would like to be at home with her family in the UK instead.
Unfortunately Maureen has now exhausted her remaining savings and family have come to end of how much they can financially help.
We need to get Maureen back to the UK but a Medical Transportation by air will cost between £20k - £30k and she cannot fly without nurses in case of another bleed which could be fatal.
Maureen is now stuck in limbo, she hasn’t yet got into debt in the hospital but once the next bill is unpaid they will refuse to allow her to leave the hospital (or country) until settled.
Please help us get Maureen back to the UK so her family can be with her and care for her until the end.
There is even a chance that the wonderful NHS may have an idea or treatment that could prolong Maureen’s life - or at least make her more comfortable until the end with her family.
Thank You
Maureen is a wonderful Scottish lady with a wicked sense of humour despite all she has been through. She is now 74 years old with two daughters and four grandchildren.
One daughter lives in UK and another daughter in the USA. She was affectionately nicknamed “Granny Haggis” by her grandchildren when they were young due to her Scottish roots and the nickname has stuck!
Maureen aka ‘Haggis’, used to live alone in Cornwall as a result of an abusive marriage and she ended up with very little in material terms.
This marriage ended when her ex was sentenced for her assault in 2002. So Haggis has been single for last twenty years but has lots of great friends.
In 2016 she travelled with family to Fethiye, Turkey her first holiday in decades.
When family went back to UK, Maureen ended up staying, she lived on her state pension and her family helped her with costs of renting a small apartment.
For years Maureen was fit and happy. She joined in with the expat community with lots of friends and helping in local charities and finally we thought she would live out her days somewhere beautiful after all of the trauma she has suffered.
She is an active member of the Fethiye Christian Church and has devoted her life to helping others.
Covid restrictions in 2020 & 2021 meant being isolated and fully locked down for months. The restrictions were much more extreme than the UK, with older people not being allowed outside their property for weeks.
This period of time took a terrible toll on Maureen’s physical and mental health and she deteriorated. Maureen then had a bad fall and broke her shoulder, this alone costs thousands to operate on, which family paid for and friends helped her recover from.
This accident and the operations marked an obvious decline in Maureen and highlighted some underlying issues.
Not long after Maureen suffered some internal bleeding, caused by gastrointestinal problems.
She has on several occasions has been blue lighted into hospital in Turkey where she has been terrified and unable to speak the language or understand what’s being done to her.
On Christmas 2021 she had a similar bleed and after being stabilised she was convinced by family to return to UK to live.
She managed to get a normal flight, stayed with family for several months and got stronger with new medication prescribed.
Against everyone’s advice however, she wanted to go back to Turkey. She said she wanted see her friends as she had left in a rush, but she would make a decision, about her long term situation. She was in contact with her NHS doctor who was reviewing options.
The condition led to another bleed in November 2022 and she was rushed into hospital again and then transferred to a more specialised hospital. Family were told it was doubtful she would survive the night, but she did and within a couple weeks was discharged but unable to walk or be left by herself.
All this time one friend of Maureens, has stuck by her, staying by her bedside, sleeping in hospitals and even contributing to the bills. Driving miles and miles and helping with personal care. She has been the one trying to liaise between doctors and family but we cannot expect her to do this long term.
Maureen’s condition will likely eventually be fatal, but at the moment costs are around £250-£500 per day in the hospitals. Operations would be intrusive and would have upfront costs of at least £3000 which is not including after care costs.
Maureen understandably doesn’t want any more operations as she knows these are likely to kill her and would like to be at home with her family in the UK instead.
Unfortunately Maureen has now exhausted her remaining savings and family have come to end of how much they can financially help.
We need to get Maureen back to the UK but a Medical Transportation by air will cost between £20k - £30k and she cannot fly without nurses in case of another bleed which could be fatal.
Maureen is now stuck in limbo, she hasn’t yet got into debt in the hospital but once the next bill is unpaid they will refuse to allow her to leave the hospital (or country) until settled.
Please help us get Maureen back to the UK so her family can be with her and care for her until the end.
There is even a chance that the wonderful NHS may have an idea or treatment that could prolong Maureen’s life - or at least make her more comfortable until the end with her family.
Thank You
Organizer
Stephen Parkinson
Organizer