With her health failing, 76-year-old Patricia Bunting was determined to have one last foreign holiday with her grandson William, who is 23 and has autism.
“She wanted to see him happy and make memories,” said Emma Bunting, Patricia’s daughter. ‘She knew it would be her last holiday abroad and she saved for it for almost three years.’
Mrs Bunting, a former cleaner and factory worker, receives a state pension and, since her husband, bus driver Joseph, died of a heart attack in 1993, a small widow’s pension.
The couple were joined on their three-week trip to Walt Disney World in Florida by her unemployed sons Paul, 40, (Emma’s twin brother) and David, 42, who both live with their mother in Wigan, Greater Manchester.
“It was her 21st trip to the US since she first came with my father in the late 1980s,” added her daughter Emma, a cleaning supervisor, who stayed home with her youngest son Joseph, ten.
‘She loves it there: the people, the food, the weather. She always took out travel insurance and never had to use it.
However, in early 2022, she was diagnosed with the lung condition chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and began using inhalers to help her breathe. The November holiday was her first trip to the US since then.
“She also uses a walker or wheelchair to help her,” her daughter adds. “She also has atrial fibrillation, a heart condition that causes an irregular heartbeat.”
With her health failing, 76-year-old Patricia Bunting was determined to have one last foreign holiday with her grandson William, who is 23 and has autism.
But Patricia has been in hospital since November 23
The grandmother had tried to get cover for her trip but told Emma she had been paid around £3,000. “I said, maybe you shouldn’t go, but Mom said, ‘It’ll be fine.’
Fateful words. Because what happened to Patricia is alternately a story that will arouse sympathy among some – while also offering a salutary lesson about the recklessness of going abroad without insurance, especially to America, if you suffer from a serious chronic illness.
Five days before her scheduled flight home, on November 23, Patricia fainted in her hotel bathroom and was rushed to Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips Hospital.
She spent five days in intensive care with Covid before developing pneumonia. She also suffered from stomach bleeding and blood clots in her legs.
In critical condition and too ill to leave the hospital, her medical bills become more prohibitive by the day. The family do not know how much they owe, but after more than three weeks in hospital it is likely to be in the tens of thousands of pounds.
According to a 2021 estimate, the average hospital cost per day in the US was $2,883 (£2,269). That would take Mrs Bunting’s total to almost £57,000 – and much more if her time in intensive care is included.
Five days before her scheduled flight home, on November 23, Patricia fainted in her hotel bathroom and was rushed to Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips Hospital.
On Tuesday, an Orlando Health spokesperson described Dr. P. Phillips Hospital described Ms. Bunting’s condition as “serious.”
In a statement, the hospital added: “While we cannot comment on specific patient cases, Orlando Health has a long-standing generous financial assistance program for patients who have limited or no means to pay for medically necessary services provided in a facility at Orlando Health.
“Orlando is a popular international tourist destination and we encourage all visitors to consider purchasing travel insurance for unexpected, emergency medical expenses.”
The UK Foreign Office advises: ‘If you do not have the correct insurance in place before you travel, you could be liable for emergency costs, including medical treatment, which could cost thousands of pounds.’
One example mentioned there is ‘a stomach flu or infection treated in a hospital in the US and possibly a medical evacuation/repatriation’, which is estimated could cost you ‘€150,000+’ without travel insurance.
Relatives are trying to get Patricia back to England so she can receive NHS care. Meanwhile, their grandmother faces a lonely Christmas in a hospital bed on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
The family has launched a crowdfunding appeal GoFundMe which has so far raised over £31,000 of a £50,000 target.
They had hoped that this would help them pay for a specialized air ambulance with a bed and oxygen to take Patricia home under medical supervision and also pay some of her hospital bill.
“She’s nowhere near stable enough to be able to take a commercial flight home, which would be much cheaper.” says Emma.
But since the appeal was launched, the family say they have discovered the cost of a medically assisted flight could be as much as £130,000. And that’s on top of the enormous costs of her hospital stay.
Emma flew to her mother’s bedside as quickly as possible, arriving shortly after her brothers and son returned home in late November. She is staying in $50 (£39) a night family accommodation in the hospital two floors below where her mother is being treated.
Patricia collapsed during her holiday to Orlando
Emma told the Mail: ‘I only sleep about three hours a night, but it’s good because I’m close by when the nurses call, and it’s cheaper than a hotel.
“Mommy’s a tough girl, but she’s not out of the woods yet. She receives continuous oxygen and morphine for the pain, and antibiotics. She has had two pneumonias. She sleeps a lot and can’t really talk except mumble a few words. She can only eat protein shakes and broth.
“She is Catholic and a priest gave her a prayer shawl and some rosary beads, which brought her great comfort.
But nothing can keep loneliness at bay. ‘She is so far away from her family that it is killing her. She cannot see her sister and her grandchildren. There is FaceTime, but the human element is missing.
“She wants to be back for Christmas, but I think I’m going to spend it here in the US with her.”
While Emma admits her mother might have been more cautious about traveling, she understands her decision: “People have said she was stupid not to get insurance, but she didn’t know she was going to get sick, right?
And she is full of praise for everyone who donated money to get her mother home: ‘There are lovely people who are passionate about the fundraiser, even if they don’t know her. We are a working class family, we are not millionaires. How else are we going to pay for all this?’
More than 1,200 donations have been made to the family’s appeal so far, ranging from £5 to £2,000.
Emma says she has unfortunately also received some unpleasant messages since launching the appeal, with some ‘keyboard warriors’ accusing her of exaggerating her mother’s condition and medical costs – and even of cooking up a money-making scam.
‘I don’t justify them with an answer. “I can have a good cry sometimes, but I don’t let my mother see me upset,” she said.
Patricia’s sister Linda Bennett, 70, a former nursing assistant who also lives in Wigan, said on Tuesday that other family members had helped to pay for the costs of Paul, David and William’s holidays, but that Patricia had insisted on paying her own. pay.
She’s stuck in a Florida hospital with no insurance as the bills mount, so her family launched a fundraiser to help
“She has always been a frugal person and has a lot of pride. She never applied for benefits,” says Linda. ‘She was saving for her retirement holiday – around £1,400 for flights and accommodation. She owns her semi-detached house, but it needs a lot of repairs.’
When asked how much she would like to have her sister home from Christmas, Linda replied: “One million percent.”
Meanwhile, back in the US, Emma has a clear message for anyone thinking of risking a foreign holiday without travel insurance.
‘Don’t do it. It’s not worth it. Don’t see it as an unnecessary expense.’
She added: ‘We can’t fault the medical care mum has received here – but it is very, very expensive. I haven’t even asked what the hospital medical bill is until now, but it will be tens of thousands of dollars.”
And yes – Emma says she made sure she got travel insurance when she flew to her mother’s bedside.
But as her mother languishes in her hospital bed in Florida – a land her grandmother called her “happy place” – Emma is counting on the kindness of strangers to reunite her family this Christmas.