A holiday turned to horror for a West Midlands family when dad Marlon McCormack, 51, fell into a coma after a freak gym accident in Turkey.
The Chelmsley Wood forklift operator woke up on April 25 with paralysis on one side of his body and was found to have a brain bleed, necessitating emergency surgery. His partner, Anna Ryan, 41, has already forked out £3,000 for his immediate medical expenses but is now facing a daunting £24,000 bill for ongoing treatment as the couple didn't take out travel insurance.
The family, including Mr McCormack's two children, had jetted off to Turkey on April 24 for an impromptu break. In a desperate call for help, Anna recounted their ordeal: "We arrived in Turkey yesterday. I slept in this morning, and Marlon got up early to go to the gym. He came back and said he'd fallen while he was there."
"He went back to sleep and when he woke up he couldn't stand - it looked like he'd had a stroke. We called an ambulance and he was rushed to hospital," as reported by Birmingham Live, reports Coventry Live. Struggling to cover the initial costs, Anna has sought assistance from the British Embassy.
She was told that Marlon's operation would go ahead without the £24,000 upfront payment, but the staggering amount must be found in the coming weeks. She explained: "I'm being asked to pay loads of money I don't have. They want £24,000 for surgery and then it's four weeks of recovery which we'd need to fund too. We don't have that kind of money - I don't know what to do. Something like this has never happened to me. We need as much help as we can get."
The situation took a turn for the worse when the surgery didn't go as planned, with a surgeon unable to clear all the blood from his brain. Anna shared: "The doctor said it was too dangerous to remove all of it straight away. His blood pressure has also dropped so he's being kept in a coma. From what I can understand, he's got an infection as well." To lend a hand, you can contribute to their fundraiser by following this link.