A British man has been left fighting for his life after falling ill with deadly disease sepsis while on holiday in Bulgaria to celebrate his third wedding anniversary. Daniel Bowman, 32, was struck down with the condition, which killed his aunt in 2005, a week into a fortnight break with his wife Kelly, 35, last week.
He is due to be flown home tomorrow (Thursday) hooked up to a life support machine after his family raised the money to pay for a private medical repatriation air ambulance. They have been told insurers won't pay out until they get Daniel's medical records, even though his family say he has no underlying medical conditions.
Distraught Kelly, a mental health nurse, spent their wedding anniversary reading out her card to him as he lay in intensive care in a hospital in the country. Doctors at Doncaster Royal Infirmary were in discussions with medics in Bulgaria about the care Daniel, who works in traffic management, needs when he returns home.
His aunt Sam Bowman, 50, said: "He has to have a tracheotomy. He'll be on a life support machine on the flight home, just basically keeping him stable. The only hope we've got now is that his body fights this sepsis. It's too late for his pancreas and his kidneys."
Daniel and Kelly, of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, were staying at the Grand Hotel at Sunny Beach on Bulgaria's Black sea coast when he started experiencing stomach pains and vomiting blood. He went to a local clinic, which put him on an IV drip, but he later went to the main hospital in the resort, where he was put on life support in an induced coma.
And when surgeons began to operate, his pancreas failed, causing further complications as infection leaked into his blood stream. His distraught mum Michele - whose sister Rachel died of sepsis in 2005 at just 28 - rushed out to the country on Thursday to be by his side.
Sam added: "For us to know we've lost one member of the family to sepsis, we were expecting it again. For my mum and dad it's like it's coming back to haunt them. Nobody expects to bury their children, let alone their grandchildren.
"Daniel and Kelly have been together 10 years, they flew out to celebrate their third wedding anniversary. She's sat in ICU reading out their anniversary cards.
"It's heart-breaking. When they went to remove the infection, his pancreas failed and the infection had gone into his bloodstream which has caused his kidneys to fail.
"They told us four days ago there's nothing they could, there's no hope. But Daniel being Daniel, he's still fighting and they said last night for the first time there's a bit of hope."
Sam said the family had been "blown away" by people's generosity after kind-hearted strangers donated to their fundraising page. But Sam, who also took out a personal loan to help pay for the flight home, said they face an anxious wait for their insurance company, Admiral, to pay up.
She said: "We just want him home, we could wait for the insurance, but he could die in that time. We're desperate. We're just a working-class family, we can't afford it. It's not just the flight, it's the medical bills, you're looking at thousands for the intensive care unit.
"And Kelly and Michele have spent about £1,000 in taxis to and from the hospital already. Daniel's self-employed and he won't be getting paid for a long time.
"The response has been amazing, somebody pushed £100 through my door, I have no idea who. If the insurance pays out, everyone will get their money back, we just need as much help as we can get.
"People are just doing all they can to help, that shows what amazing friends and family we have and how well he's thought of. Everybody loves him, he's such a great guy. He's really lovely and funny. He's a clown really, he makes everybody laugh so much.
"He's the head of our family, he's our rock and a cool head in a crisis. We could do with him right now really."
Speaking from Bulgaria, Kelly said: "There are no words that I can use right now to describe how I feel. This is like the worst nightmare and I am never ever waking up from it.
"It was our wedding anniversary on September 7 and I went to see Daniel in intensive care, I held his hand, read his anniversary card to him and sang our wedding song. I just hope he could hear me. This pain is indescribable. He is my best friend, my soulmate and the best husband in the world.
"He has always believed in me and I will never ever stop believing in him. He is an amazing husband and the man of an amazing family.
"The support from family, friends and people I have never even met before has been priceless and I am forever grateful. But now I just need my husband."
Admiral has been contacted for comment.
A spokesman told a local newspaper: "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."
The family's fundraising page can be found here.
