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Glasgow Live
Glasgow Live
National
Rory Cassidy

Rangers fan back in Glasgow two weeks after collapsing on Seville flight

A Rangers fan is back in Glasgow two weeks after collapsing on a flight to Seville.

Sandra Aitken is recovering in hospital after landing back in Scotland yesterday and thanked the stranger who helped get her home, the Daily Record reports.

The Gers supporter, who had planned to spend just two days in the Andalusian city watching her team play in the Europa League final, said: "I don't even have the words to explain how I feel. I am so ecstatic.

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"I'm home and that's all I care about. The air ambulance company, Reva, was superb.

"The treatment I received in Spain was excellent and I'm so grateful for everything they did for me in the hospital over there, they couldn't have been better.

"I have a rare complex congenital heart condition and there was a possibility I may have needed surgery.

"If I did, I wanted my own team to do it as it's so complex.

"Thank you too for everything. I know I'd still be in Spain if it wasn't for you."

The 44-year-old has suffered from a complex heart condition since birth, and slipped into unconsciousness on the Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Seville on May 17.

Airline staff revived her as her daughter looked on and she was rushed to city's Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena.

But they said that due to her heart condition she had to remain in the hospital until an air ambulance was booked.

Sandra was discharged by the hospital last Monday but had to wait eight days to come home.

She says her insurer Staysure booked air ambulance after she and her daughter made their own enquiries.

She was picked up yesterday morning and brought back to Scotland yesterday afternoon - two weeks to the day after she left for Seville.

She was taken to Clydebank's Golden Jubilee University National Hospital, where she is under the care of Consultant Cardiologist Gruschen Veldtman to be monitored before being allowed to return home.

After the Record story last week, Sandra was contacted on Facebook by Ger Marshall, director of Giffnock-based travel agent Marshall Travel.

The big-hearted businesswoman, whose firm had chartered a flight to Seville, wrote: "Is there anything you need or assistance with getting home, we would be happy to help.

"If we can help either by a donation I'd personally be delighted to help you and your family in any way we can."

Sandra said: "It's been a total rollercoaster for two weeks and it's not taking much to make me cry.

"Ger's generosity was overwhelming. I couldn't even find the words to thank her for offering to help me.

"I was really down and it was hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel but that reminded me there are so many good people out there who will go out of their way to help people they don't even know."

Sandra and daughter Samantha had been due to watch the Light Blues taking on Eintracht Frankfurt at a special screening of the European final in Seville.

But they missed the showpiece tie as well as the Scottish Cup Final against Hearts - instead only seeing the inside of the Seville hospital for two weeks.

They spent the fortnight in a ward, with only a curtain for privacy, with Samantha having to sleep on a chair bed.

A Staysure spokesperson said: "Staysure is happy to confirm Sandra Aitken has landed in the UK and is safely in hospital continuing her treatment.

"She was brought back by air ambulance this afternoon after Mayday was able to obtain all the medical information needed to deem her fit to fly.

"Staysure wishes her a speedy recovery and hopes she is able to go home to her family very soon."

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