A veteran spent Christmas Day alone in intensive care after a dream festive holiday to Thailand turned into a nightmare.
Robert Kessell, from Wishaw, flew out to Asia on November 24 for a three-week solo trip ahead of the festive period. On December 8, the 66-year-old was rushed to Pattaya City Hospital in the Soi Buakhao area by his friend Rose.
He spent two weeks fighting for his life while unconscious on a ventilator after suffering from an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The pensioner battled back from the brink of death and was taken off of his ventilator last week.
But he was forced to spend Christmas Day alone in ICU after coronavirus restrictions prevented Rose, who he had been visiting, from entering his hospital room.
Rose managed to contact Rob's close family friend Linda Ross, 43, back home in Newmains, North Lanarkshire, who is now desperate to bring him home.
Linda said: "Rob was in hospital unconscious and on a ventilator. The doctors said he was probably going to pass away.
"There was no change at all and then one day last week, Rob woke up and he was trying to cough up something. They managed to take him off the ventilator but he is still on oxygen and he can't communicate.
"Rob is fighting harder than they thought he could. He's not ready to die."
Painter and decorator Rob has racked up a £7,000 medical bill and could only afford to pay for a few days of treatment. The Embassy told Linda he will not be declared fit to fly home and recover until a lump sum of the bill is paid and a payment plan is approved.
She has now set up a fundraising page to help pay for the army veteran to come home, and has reached out to SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity in the hopes he will be eligible for some financial support.
She added: "Rob not being here with us is a big absence. I consider him like family.
"I've never known him to be unwell.
"We are trying everything we can to get him home. It might be a shot in the dark but he's fighting and so am I."
Donations to the fundraising page can be made by clicking here.
A spokesperson for the The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said: “We are providing support to a British man who has been hospitalised in Thailand.”
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