A British mum and her newborn are stranded abroad after she gave birth prematurely while on holiday.
Bethany Cleathero, 27, has not been able to return home to the UK with her daughter since her unexpected birth in Cyprus over two weeks ago. She was classed as fit to fly over but went into labour at the end of June, hours before she was due to fly home.
Mrs Cleathero was on a family getaway with her husband Jan, 29, and their two children when she went into labour. Newborn baby, Molly, was born 16 weeks early at a Cyprus hospital on June 29.
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Since then they struggled to obtain travel documents to take Molly home - and their insurance won't cover their medical or travel costs. She and baby Molly remain in hospital as she receives neo-natal treatment costing about £860 a day.
They are appealing for help and have so far raised £26,748 raised of their £30,000 goal. Jan said: ''I’m raising money on behalf of myself and my wife Bethany. We recently spent some time on holiday in Cyprus with our two daughters. On our last day my wife gave birth prematurely at six months pregnant.
''Our third daughter is now in the neonatal hospital in Cyprus and my wife is nearby still being taken care of in the general hospital just over an hour away, my wife is still quite poorly and she’s currently fighting off infections and trying to stay strong so she’s able to visit our daughter as soon as physically possible.
''She’s being discharged and we’re now looking at ways she can be closer to our baby. I’ve had to come back to the UK to bring our two other children home and to try and make sure their kept unaware of the seriousness of the situation we now face."
Jan continued: "'All our current insurances don’t cover the cost of bringing our baby home and we’re left with the possibility that our daughter may have to stay stuck in Cyprus for the next three to four months. On top of that we’ve also been made aware that any insurance we do have may not cover the cost to keep her in the hospital and we’re being given quotes of £1000 a night to keep her there.
'''Our only real option is to try to bring baby Molly home to the UK where she can be given the best possible treatment and care from the NHS. With the language barrier it’s been difficult to find out how she’s been doing but with help from the British embassy and our travel provider TUI we’ve been able to find out she’s doing really well and she’s responding to all treatments and all the signs are really positive at the moment.
''With the quotes of £1000 a night and the possibility she’ll need to stay in Cyprus for four months the costs could exceed £100,000 to keep her safe and healthy. As a family we’re looking at raising as much as we physically can but I’m more than aware we’ll need help to bring Molly home.''
Speaking from Cyprus, Bethany said: "She needs to have travel documents and should apply for a passport, but we know what the passport office is like. Because Molly doesn't have any form of identification we had to go through the long process of sending off our birth certificates.''
Following a two-week wait, they finally received the documents needed with the help of their local MP in Cullompton, Devon. However, when they arrived to the hospital to take their baby home, the couple were told she had taken a turn for the worst and was no longer fit to fly - leaving the family in limbo.
Mrs Cleathero said: "If we had these documents in 48 hours, we would have flown home, we would have been there for ages. It's just sod's law that we finally get them and now Molly's not fit to fly, when she's been perfect to fly for 15 days"
Molly was destabilised on Wednesday night due to a hole in her lungs. She had to have an emergency chest drain and a Hickman line inserted. The couple were not made aware of Molly's unstable condition until they came to the hospital on Thursday.
Due to language barriers causing issues, they are desperate to get Molly home to be treated in an NHS facility. Bethany said: "We went to an ultrasound because I was having contractions, so they examined me without telling me and just said 'your baby's coming' and rushed me to another hospital.
"Because I've had two caesareans previously, it's super dangerous to have a natural birth, but by the time they listened to me it was too late and I was forced to have a natural birth.
"She was born weighing 750g. As soon as I had her, they put me to sleep and they took her to a hospital which was over an hour away."
Mr Cleathero then had to leave his wife and baby to take his two other daughters, aged three and eight, home, before returning back to Cyprus days later. Mr and Mrs Cleathero have turned to the charity Lucy Air Ambulance for Children, who are arranging a flight for the family to return on.
Bethany said: "“I am so thankful to my friends for finding out about the charity. We really need people’s kindness to continue in our effort to raise the money we so desperately need to get us home.”
You can donate to the fundraiser here.
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