A dream holiday to Thailand has turned into a nightmare for a Wishaw man after he ended up in intensive care on a ventilator.
Army veteran Robert Kessell, 66, embarked on a three-week solo trip on November 24 to the Southeast Asian country renowned for its tropical beaches and amazing nightlife.
However, a fortnight into his stay he began to have difficulty breathing and was rushed to Pattaya City Hospital where medics thought it was touch and go if he would survive.
Seriously ill, he spent two weeks fighting for his life while unconscious on a ventilator after suffering an acute COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) episode.
The pensioner has battled back from the brink of death and was removed from the ventilator last week.
But he was forced to spend Christmas Day alone in ICU after coronavirus restrictions prevented his friend Rose, who he had been visiting, from entering his hospital room.
The hospital is looking for a lump sum to be paid towards his treatment before he will be allowed to travel home to Scotland.
Rose managed to contact Rob’s close family friend Linda Ross, 43, back home in Newmains, who is desperate to bring him home.
Linda said: “Rob was in hospital unconscious and on a ventilator. The doctors said he was probably going to pass away.
“There was no change at all and then one day last week, Rob woke up and he was trying to cough up something.
“They managed to take him off the ventilator but he is still on oxygen and he can’t communicate.
“Rob is fighting harder than they thought he could. He’s not ready to die.”
Painter and decorator Rob has racked up a £7000 medical bill and could only afford to pay for a few days of treatment.
The Embassy told Linda he will not be declared fit to fly home and recover until a lump sum of the bill is paid and a payment plan is approved.
She has set up a fundraising page to help pay for the Army veteran to come home and has reached out to SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity, in the hope he will be eligible for some financial support.
She added: “Rob not being here with us is a big absence. I consider him like family. I’ve never known him to be unwell.
“We are trying everything we can to get him home. It might be a shot in the dark but he’s fighting and so am I.”
A spokesperson for the The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office confirmed that they are “providing support to a British man who has been hospitalised in Thailand.”
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