A British teenager is in a critical condition in Spain after falling ill while on holiday with her family, who now face a medical bill of more than £13,000 after just two days of treatment.
Bryony Duthie, 18, from Dundee, suffers from chronic kidney problems and was taken to a private hospital on the Costa Del Sol on Sunday, where she was put into an induced coma after being diagnosed with pneumonia and suffering a seizure.
Due to the “language barrier”, her family said they did not understand how much the treatment would cost and were shocked to receive a bill on Tuesday for 16,000 euros (£13,897) after just two nights in the centre and discover their insurance policy would not cover it.
Costs are expected to continue to rise by thousands of pounds per day due to the dialysis Bryony requires, but the family are now fundraising to cover the expense, with members of the public having donated more than £15,000 to a GoFundMe appeal by Wednesday morning.
Speaking to the PA news agency from the hospital in Benalmadena, her mother, Stephanie Duthie, 37, said: “We just presumed it was her (health) condition.
“My mum had to pay 3,000 euros (£2,600) right away.
“Obviously, there was a language barrier, because we thought it was going to cost 3,000 euros (£2,600) a day.
“But right now she’s critical and my main thought is keeping my daughter alive.”
Bryony suffers from a rare genetic condition and renal tubular acidosis, which occurs when the kidneys do not remove acids from the blood, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
She was on a family holiday in Fuengirola on the Costa Del Sol when her health suddenly declined and she was forced to miss her flight home.
She was due to fly home with her mother on Sunday July 16, but the family decided she should stay behind with her grandfather, Pete Duthie, to regain her strength.
Despite Bryony being unable to walk, this was not unusual given her chronic health conditions, and she has experienced similar symptoms in the past.
But no sooner had Ms Duthie got home than her father called in tears to say Bryony was at the private hospital in Benalmadena, so she flew back to Malaga on Monday morning.
The family had remained hopeful after Bryony was taken to the ward since she has been admitted to hospital numerous times before.
“They said her blood was really erratic,” Ms Duthie said.
“Her sodium levels were really high and her potassium levels were really low, and that is something that goes along with Bryony’s condition.”
When Bryony started making a “cackling” sound while breathing, doctors decided to carry out a body scan, which revealed what was really the matter.
“When the body scan came back they’ve seen something on her lung which turned out to be pneumonia,” Ms Duthie said.
This meant that Bryony’s blood medication was not working.
“The next minute she starts having a seizure and the medical staff took me out of the ward and I had to just sit there and wait,” said Ms Duthie.
“Obviously, some of them speak great English, but (with) some of them it’s quite difficult, so I’m using Google translate to try and establish what’s going on.”
A doctor informed her that Bryony had been put into an induced coma and placed on a ventilator.
Ms Duthie said: “They’ve had to put all these different lines in her body for all the different medication.
“The nurse had an honest conversation with me and said ‘We’re fighting for her, but the antibiotics are not fighting the infection like they should be’.
“So they put her on the maximum treatment and said ‘There’s nothing else we can do for her and there’s a possibility she might not make it’.”
Doctors decided to give Bryony dialysis in a bid to stabilise her blood levels and contain the infection, which her mother said appears to have worked.
“(On Tuesday) we went back to the hospital and her blood started to return to normal,” said Ms Duthie.
“The dialysis is what’s costing a fortune, but that’s what’s kept her alive.”
The family thought they were covered by their insurance policy, only to discovered it does not apply to their situation.
Out of “desperation”, Ms Duthie has also contacted a number of famous names on social media, including footballer Jack Grealish, singer Lewis Capaldi and the Andy Robertson AR26 charity.
Ms Duthie said: “My daughter is where she needs to be but it’s costing an absolute fortune.
“Once she’s stable we can move her to a public hospital.”
Ms Duthie’s cousin, Brooke Coventry, has set up a GoFundMe page to help cover the climbing costs, and by Thursday morning had raised more than £21,000.
The fundraiser can be found here.
