British teenager is left fighting for life after ear infection spiralled into meningitis on Greek holiday as family launch desperate fundraiser to fly her home
Millie Bayles, 19, from Garth near Llangollen in North Wales, is currently in intensive care in Athens after falling seriously ill on the island of Rhodes.
Her family say she initially began experiencing symptoms of an ear infection, but her condition quickly deteriorated and she was later diagnosed with bacterial meningitis.
Millie, who was on holiday with her friends, was transferred more than 300 miles from the holiday island to a specialist unit in the capital, where she remains in a semi-conscious state.
Her mother, Lauren Murphy, and stepfather, Pete, flew out to be by her side as doctors battled to stabilise her condition.
Now, the family are working to bring Millie home to continue her treatment in the UK.
Without travel insurance in place, they were quoted tens of thousands of pounds for a private medical flight and hospital costs.
Lauren said: 'We are now at the stage where we can look to bring Millie back to the UK. She is out of immediate danger, but she has a long road to recovery ahead of her.
'She is still only semi-conscious, and we have yet to see how badly this illness will have affected her brain in the long term.
'Unfortunately, due to being an invincible young person, Millie neglected to take out any holiday insurance, and so we have to fund her medical flight home privately.
'We desperately need help to get our girl back to her home country so she can continue her recovery process.'
More than 900 people rallied around the family and helped them to hit their £40,000 target in just days.
Millie's stepfather, Pete said: 'I am so overwhelmed by the immediate generosity of all of you lovely people and plenty that are certainly not on my friend list.
'Myself, Lauren and Millie are so grateful for your kind donations.
'Millie has got a long battle ahead, but she certainly has a lot of people rooting for her, and we can't thank you enough for that.'
Millie's family are now hoping she can be flown home as soon as her doctors deem it safe, where she'll begin the next stage of her recovery.
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