'Incredible' update as mum fighting for life after horror fall on holiday island
The family of a mum fighting for her life after a horror fall at a Tenerife hotel have issued an emotional new update. Emma Hickey was on holiday with her partner Stephen Brougham and their two children when she collapsed and tumbled head-first down the stairs, leaving her critically ill in hospital.
The 42-year-old carer's injuries included a brain haemorrhage and multiple neck fractures, and saw her put into an induced coma. She remains unconscious in intensive care. Her family - who are still with her in Spain - now face an agonising wait to see when Emma might be well enough to be flown home for treatment, and have started a GoFundMe page to help pay towards costs after running into problems with her travel insurance provider.
Her collapse, which was followed by a series of convulsions, is believed to have been caused by an infection from mosquito bites. She went to see a doctor on the 10th day of their 12-day holiday after developing a severe reaction to the bites, and was given an injection.
Despite feeling under the weather, Emma was determined to make the most of the holiday for her family's sake, but suffered the fall on June 23 while on her way to visit a chemist.
Because of the seriousness of her injuries, the family say doctors have told them her recovery "will be long, uncertain, and incredibly challenging".
Now, in a new update on the GoFundMe page, Emma's family revealed her infection is beginning to clear - and said she is "fighting strong".
Karen Whelan, who is organising the fundraiser, wrote: "We just wanted to say the biggest, most heartfelt thank you from Stephen, Sophie, Bobby, Emma's sisters, family, and friends.
"We've been blown away by the generosity, kind messages and support from friends, family, and strangers. Seeing so many people rally around Emma has been incredibly moving and uplifting during a tough time.
"Emma is making small progress day-by-day. While she has not yet woken up, she is fighting strong, and the infections are clearing a little bit each day. She has a long way to go, but we are confident that the outpouring of love and support is keeping her strong and fighting."
She also said that the neurologist is "happy" for her to be transferred to a hospital in their home country of Ireland "once she has a full medical team accompanying her."
The family are now hoping to arrange a specialist air ambulance "in the next week or so."
Karen explained the travel insurance company Emma used "are being quite difficult", making matters more complicated, but said the "continuing support from everyone" is keeping the family going. "Emma is fighting hard right along with us", she added.
The fundraiser has so far raised over €65,000 (£56,000) of a €70,000 (£60,000) target.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
7 hours ago
- Daily Mail
My son got a cramp in his leg while playing laser tag at a birthday party... the cause has broken our hearts
A family's life 'completely changed' when they discovered their beloved seven-year-old son's cramps - a symptom of a rare genetic disease - had been misdiagnosed as autism for three and a half years. Little Evan, who lives in Maidstone, Kent, was only told he had the debilitating condition on February 8 this year after going to a laser tag birthday party with friends. Within 15 minutes his calf muscle went into a cramp rendering him unable to join in - but his mother Laura Winter said this time it was much worse than the leg cramps he had experienced up to then. Ms Winter took her son to the GP and he was referred for a blood test leading the family to receive a call saying Evan needed to be taken urgently to A&E. Following further tests a doctor told the family he believed Evan had a condition called Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) - a severe inherited disease that typically begins at age four and progresses rapidly, causing muscle loss and resulting in difficulties standing up. The family is now raising money through a GoFundMe page to try to offer young Evan a 'normal' life. Speaking to MailOnline, Ms Winter said: 'Evan would sometimes say he hated walking and it was thought to be a result of his autism because he was on his tiptoes a lot. 'He holds himself really rigid and is quite tense which was seen as another symptom.' Ms Winter explained the severe cramp at a birthday party occurred just days before Evan's seventh birthday. Ms Winter was shocked to discover she had passed on the faulty DMD gene to her son as she was not aware of any family history involving the condition She said herself and her husband held hands 'very tightly' when receiving news of the diagnosis and it was a 'very quiet drive home'. Ms Winter added: 'Sometimes it feels like we're just living in a parallel universe and it will all just end soon. 'If our little boy had had a blood test following his first appointment with the community pediatrics team three and a half years ago we'd have known a lot earlier.' The doting mother described her son as 'hilarious' and 'such a funny little boy'. She added: 'He absolutely loves dinosaurs and the Jurassic world. He's so funny and sweet and loving - he's very well loved by everyone who meets him. Everyone he meets he just fills with dinosaur fact after dinosaur fact.' Ms Winter was shocked to discover she had passed on the faulty DMD gene to her son as she was not aware of any family history involving the condition. She said: 'Until recently, we were a "normal" family, living a simple but "normal" life with our two beautiful children, Amelie and Evan. We felt blessed beyond belief to have two happy and healthy children.' The family are now trying to raise money to help Evan with his condition saying they are 'embarrassed' at having to turn to their friends, family and the public for help. A GoFundMe page organised by Ms Winter reads: 'As Evan reaches his teenage years and early adulthood, he will become fully reliant on us for absolutely everything as the degeneration in his muscle accelerates. 'The caveat, we can't afford a home that can be made suitable, despite being a two working parent household, with local prices of properties that could be adapted marketing for between £500-600,000. 'We can't increase our working hours and miss precious time with our boy. We can't move to a cheaper area as we have our support networks, friends, children's school and medical teams locally. We are essentially stuck in a system that is broken and cannot offer any assistance. 'We can't save our beautiful little boy from this awful, horrendous disease but we will try with everything we have to give him a safe and comfortable home, where he can have the best childhood we can give him.' Ms Winter told MailOnline Evan's symptoms had 'never been signifcant enough to put into Google' and she believed there should be more awareness around DMD. 'If parents feel like there's something not quite right - trust your gut, push harder,' she concluded.
Daily Mirror
15 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Dying Brit mum fighting for life in Spain after botched surgery sparked organ shut down
Colleen Mckinnon and her husband Steve jetted off for a nice few relaxing days in the sun when the mum suddenly became unwell with a gallbladder infection and gallstones A British mum is fighting for her life in Spain after botched emergency surgery sparked a major organ shut down. Colleen Mckinnon and her husband Steve jetted off for a few relaxing days in the sun when the mum suddenly became unwell with a gallbladder infection and gallstones. She was rushed to a private hospital, where she has spent the last six weeks after an alleged botched surgery. Colleen's gallbladder should have been removed during a routine operation, but instead, medics placed abdominal drains inside her. Over the next few days, the infection "kept getting worse", according to worried daughter Rachel. Unbeknownst to the family, the infection that was contained in the gallbladder was "now leaking into her abdomen and infecting all her other organs." Colleen, from Dundee, has remained in intensive care for the last four weeks out of six. She has had seven abdominal drains, which have all failed, along with a large and complex operation on her abdomen that was unsuccessful. The family was quoted £39,000 for a medical ambulance, which prompted daughter Rachel to set-up a GoFundMe. Rachel wrote: "Unfortunately my mum is still critical and has had another set back. My mum started to deteriorate yesterday and is now back on oxygen due to her stats dropping. "Another MRI scan had shown that she now has a further large amount of infection in her abdomen and they are not completely sure where it is coming from. There has been talks of her need to travel 40 miles to have another procedure and now the possibility also another invasive and complicated operation. "As you can imagine we are desperately wanting to get my mum home so that she can be treated at her local hospital but the more I witness her deteriorating and becoming weaker, the harder it is to imagine how this is going to happen unless we fund it and get her an air ambulance privately. "My mum does have travel insurance and they are covering her medical costs, however they are dragging their feet and are now saying that she needs to finish all treatment over in Spain before flying home commercially the doctors here have said that this can take a number of weeks. "We have been quoted £39,000 for a medical air ambulance home for her. We need to get my mum home, she deserves to be cared for in her own country, surrounded and supported by all her family." Rachel revealed that the target has been hit, as of today, and she was on her way to tell the "amazing news" to her mum. She wrote: "Thank you to each and every single person that's helped us get here. As a family we will be forever grateful for the amount and support that my mum has been given."
Daily Mirror
17 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
MRI scanner death: Daughter reveals desperate struggle to save dad sucked into machine
Keith McAllister, 61, died after being dragged in by his necklace after he answered his wife's request for help as she looked on in horror while the machine 'snatched him' The family of a man who died after being sucked into an MRI machine frantically tried to free him for almost an hour. Keith McAllister, 61, died after being pulled in wearing a 9kg weight-training chain around his neck while his wife was undergoing a scan. He suffered fatal injuries in the freak accident while his wife Adrienne Jones-McAllister's knee was being examined at Nassau Open MRI in Long Island, New York last week. She had called out to her husband for assistance before he was drawn into the machine due to the chain around his neck. The powerful magnetic force generated by the MRI scanner hauled Mr McAllister into the apparatus, resulting in what police described as a 'medical episode.' He was left in a critical condition and rushed to hospital. Ms Jones-McAllister said her husband suffered a series of heart attacks after being freed from the machine and he was later pronounced dead. His daughter Samantha Bodden has now revealed new details about what led to her father's death. In the GoFundMe page set up to support the family with burial costs, she wrote: "While my mother was laying on the table, the technician left the room to get her husband to help her off the table. He forgot to inform him to take the chain he was wearing from around his neck off when the magnet sucked him in. "My mother and the tech tried for several minutes to release him before the police were called. He was attached to the machine for almost an hour before they could release the chain from the machine." She then clarified: "Several news stations are saying he wasn't authorized to be in the room when in fact he was because the technician went and brought him into the room." Paying tribute to her dad, she added: "Keith was a husband, a father, a stepfather, a grandfather, a brother, and an uncle. He was a friend to many. He was on a fixed income from social security and didn't have much. So at this time, my mother is asking for help with expenses to help bury him." Ms Jones-McAllister detailed how her husband entered the scanning room still wearing the heavy metal chain he regularly used for weight training. "I yelled out Keith's name, [shouting] Keith, come help me up," she said. "I saw the machine snatch him around and pull him into the machine," she said through tears. "He died, he lost, he went limp in my arms." MRI, or Magnetic Resonance Imaging, is a non-invasive medical imaging technique that uses powerful magnets and radio waves to produce detailed images of the body's internal structures. The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering warns that the magnetic field generated by an MRI is strong enough to pull ferromagnetic objects with deadly force. "Very powerful forces are exerted on objects made of iron, some steels, and other magnetic materials," it says, noting the field can be 'strong enough to fling a wheelchair across the room'. MRI-related accidents are rare but can prove fatal when they do occur and this is not the first such incident in New York. In 2001, six-year-old Michael Colombini was killed at the Westchester Medical Centre when an oxygen tank was pulled into an MRI chamber by the machine's 10-ton electromagnet.
