Heartbreaking update for British grandma who collapsed on ‘dream holiday’

A British grandmother who flew to Florida to go on a ‘last holiday to her happy place’ before collapsing in a hotel bathroom is quickly deteriorating.

Patricia Bunting, 76, went on holiday with two of her sons and one grandson in November in what was supposed to be a three-week final trip to Disney World.

It took the pensioner, from Wigan, four years to save up for three-week holiday, which would of been her 21st trip to the theme park.

But before arriving at the park, Patricia, who has chronic pulmonary disease, collapsed in a hotel bathroom on November 28.

She is still fighting for her life in Orlando’s Dr. P. Phillips Hospital, with the cost of getting her back to UK reaching at least £80,000.

A heartbreaking on the GoFundMe page from Patricia’s daughter Emma reads: ‘She is battling a second bout of bacterial pneumonia, for which she is being treated with IV antibiotics, has suffered a gastrointestinal bleed (which thankfully she has now recovered from) and also blood clots in her legs.’

Emma added her mother remains on continuous oxygen with her blood-oxygen levels fluctuating between 80 per cent and 90 per cent which is below a healthy level.

Patricia may also be dealing with symptoms of mental confusion.

Due to her existing illnesses of COPD and atrial fibrillation – a heart condition – she was unable to afford travel insurance on top of the cost of the trip as she had been quoted between £3-6,000.

Emma, who now lives and works in Manchester, previously told Metro: ‘I didn’t think it was best for her to go away with her health issues but I couldn’t persuade her otherwise.

‘I got a phone call from my brother in a panic saying mum had been rushed to hospital.

‘Mum complained of having very little energy but we thought she might have just overexerted herself.

‘She went to the bathroom and was in there for a while, after my brother checked up on her with no response he found her unconscious.

‘On top of her COPD she’s developed influenza and Covid-19.’

Emma has since been able to fly out to be with her mother.

She feels she and her family have been placed in an ‘impossible situation’ due to her mother’s decision not to take travel insurance and go on holiday despite her health.

She said this was the first and only time her mum has gone on holiday without taking out travel insurance.

‘My dad died in 1993 and our favourite place to go as a family was Florida,’ Emma explained.

‘Mum kept going back up until recent years – she hadn’t been as often as she would like because her health was declining.

‘She took a risk, a lot of people have said she shouldn’t have gone.

‘Mum lived in Wigan all her life. She’s always been a strong and independent person, since dad passed away she raised us all on her own.’

Emma and the family are now fundraising to pay for their mum’s flight home, so she can receive the care she needs with her family close by – but it’s not cheap.

‘The highest estimate we’ve been quoted is £138,500,’ Emma said.

‘We managed to reduce that to £111,000 but that’s way out of our price range. We’re doing everything we can to get her back but financially it’s impossible to do it alone.’

Even a cheaper option, such as accompanied medical care on a commercial flight, would cost the family in the region of £11-15,000, and that’s on top of the medical bills from the hospital in Orlando.

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