The family of a man who was placed into an induced coma after falling ill while on holiday are faced with raising £34,000 to fly him home. Daniel Bowman, 32, is in a coma on life support in an intensive care unit in Bulgaria after he contacted sepsis.
His family have said that the disease is causing his vital organs to slowly shut down and his immune system is exhaustively fighting off an infection, Yorkshire Live reports. He urgently requiresmedical treatment and his loved ones have been pleading for support from his insurance company, Admiral.
Danie took out a premium single-trip policy with before he left for his holiday, but the firm have yet to provide the family with financial support. Admiral says it is treating Daniel's case as "a matter of urgency" and is "in regular contact with our medical emergency provider".
The helpless family - who, on top of their nightmare situation, have been dealing with stressful language barriers - feel they have left with no option but to arrange for a private company to transport their loved one home. This will cost them thousands that they may not get back.
Daniel, who works traffic management, was holidaying with his wife Kelly and began feeling poorly on Monday, September 5. He started having really bad stomach pains and began vomiting blood.
He went to a local clinic which put him on an IV drip. Not getting any better, he went to hospital, where he was put on life support in an induced coma. When surgeons began to operate, his pancreas failed, causing further complications as it leaked into his blood stream.
Daniel’s aunt Sam Bowman, 50, launched a crowdfunder to get him home and has spoken about how “helpless” and “heartbroken” she feels while dealing with this abroad. Sam said: “I’ve been feeling helpless, trying to raise the money, just totally heartbroken. We said goodbye to him before he went on holiday, little did we know that might be the last time we’d say goodbye.
“I haven’t got children of my own and he was my first nephew, he and Kelly live in my house, so he’s like the son I never had, bless him. It’s absolutely heart-breaking.”
She’s said Kelly, who works as a mental health nurse, and Daniel’s mum Michelle are having to pay out for extra accommodation, taxis to the hospital each day and are having a “nightmare” dealing with the language barrier. The hospital rules state they’re only allowed to visit him one hour every day and they’ve had to pay £80 in taxi fares each day to go and visit him.
Other than Daniel’s condition, their main worry is stumping the bill to pay for his transport home. Sam says Admiral has not been helpful. She said: “The insurance company aren’t saying they will pay out as they’re saying they need more medical records, blah blah blah. The problem we’ve got is we’ve got to fly him home for a tracheotomy.
“Our hope is the insurance company will pay out, but it’s just been a nightmare trying to get the money together. It’s just been absolutely horrendous. He’s got medical insurance. They keep saying they need more information. We got his information for this private company within 24 hours and they’ve got his medical records and everything else.
“But what Admiral is saying now is they need his GP records from England to check there was no underlying problems but he’s been ill more than a week now and we need to get him home as soon as possible – why is it taking them so long?
“We’re just at a loss of where to go next. They’ve said if they get the records by the next couple of days, they could fly him home by the weekend. It will be too late then.”
A spokesperson for Admiral said: "We appreciate this is a concerning time for Mr Bowman and his family and can assure them we are treating it as a matter of urgency. We have been in regular contact with our medical emergency provider who have been liaising with the medical facility in Bulgaria and Mr Bowman’s wife.
"He remains under medical supervision. We have requested the required information from Mr Bowman’s GP and continue to chase this. We cannot comment further at this stage."
To support Daniel’s crowdfund, you can donate cash on the GoFundMe page HERE.
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