A grandmother who suffered a brain bleed while on holiday with her family in Benidorm remains stranded in a Spanish hospital. Mally Stubbings, 50, from Boston, Lincolnshire, was placed into intensive care on Tuesday, June 9, after a CT scan revealed a minor bleed on her brain.
Although she has since been moved from the intensive care unit, she continues to be hospitalized a week later. Her relatives are uncertain when she can be discharged, let alone fly home.
Her sister-in-law, Natalie Hancock, said: "She's still stuck in the hospital in Benidorm. She's not in intensive care anymore; she's on a normal ward, but they have told us she's not allowed to fly back to England because of the air pressure. They have no idea when she's going to be discharged."
A Family Holiday Turned Nightmare
The 50-year-old had been enjoying a family break in Spain with her three children, two grandchildren, son-in-law, brother, and sister-in-law. Mally has stage three terminal lung cancer, and on Friday, May 8, she completed two years of treatments to prolong her life.
Natalie explained that due to Mally's treatment, they had been unable to take a full family holiday and wanted to arrange something special to create memories. Mally traveled out with her children and grandchildren on Tuesday, June 2, and was met by her brother Stuart and Natalie on Tuesday, June 9, as a surprise.
However, Mally was seriously ill at the beginning of the holiday due to a stomach infection and was admitted to hospital on Monday, June 8, before being discharged the following day. On Wednesday, June 10, she lost the use of her legs and suffered several vacant seizures, prompting her family to take her to A&E.
Natalie said: "An ICU doctor came and said we are going to admit her to the ICU as she has a small bleed on the brain. She was in the ICU for a full day and night, and then she was moved to a normal ward and has been there since."
Financial Strain and Insurance Issues
Mally's partner Carl, her daughter Gypsy, and two grandchildren have remained in Benidorm to be by her side. They were required to vacate the hotel on Saturday, when they had been due to fly back to the UK, and sourced an Airbnb for £1,000 for the week.
Natalie said: "They have insurance, but it seems you have to pay for everything and then claim it back from the insurance company lately, so we're in a bit of a predicament, really."
Natalie, 47, set up a GoFundMe page to assist the family members who have stayed with Mally, while others were forced to return home due to work commitments or financial constraints.
She said: "We can't leave her out there on her own. There's a massive language barrier in the hospital as well; there is a translator, but you can't always get hold of her, so they're having to use Google Translate all the time."
Natalie added: "We have no clue how long she's going to be out there."
Desperate Search for a Solution
The family explored hiring a private company to arrange transport for Mally back to the UK, but claim they were quoted over £30,000. Having saved "really hard" for the holiday, this is not a viable option.
Natalie said: "It's absolutely insane; no normal person has that type of money. They had all saved really hard, and this holiday was to make memories, and we have no memories, we just have bad ones now."
