Bryony Duthie: Coma patient’s family launch fundraiser after spending £33,000 to fly her home from Spain

The family of an 18-year-old woman put in a coma after developing pneumonia while on holiday in Spain have spent £33,000 to book a medical flight to bring her home. Bryony Duthie, who suffers from a rare chronic kidney condition, is being treated by doctors at a private hospital after her health took a turn while holidaying with family on the Costa Del Sol on July 16.

Miss Duthie stirred from her coma on Friday, but slipped back into unconsciousness with doctors at Vithas Xanit International Hospital Benalmadena unable to remove her from life support. Now her family hope she can be flown from Malaga to Dundee on Thursday (July 27) on an IAS Medical plane which is to be equipped like an intensive care unit to keep her alive during the journey.

Bryony’s mother, Stephanie Duthie, 37, from Dundee, said: “I’m just in a million pieces. We just need to get her home. The hospital have told us that they want her to be ventilated when she flies. We found a flight company who are willing to fly her home for £33,000 but it’s not until next Thursday.”

Ms Duthie, who recently completed a degree in social work, said the pilot plans to fly to Dundee, their nearest airport, provided there is no rain. If not, a longer runway at Aberdeen, Edinburgh or Glasgow will be used - although this will complicate the journey.

The family is also facing a second estimated medical bill of 27,000 euro (£23,400) for another nine days of private healthcare in Spain after already being charged more than £13,000 for her first two nights in hospital and initial treatment. They have set up a fundraising page which has surpassed £50,000 to help with costs.

The Duthie family thought Bryony had become ill because of her chronic kidney problems, but a CT scan revealed she had pneumonia. While doctors have been trying to cautiously bring her out of the coma, they fear she could suffer another seizure at any time.

“She’s starting to wake up but when I say that, I mean she’s opening her eyes, she’s not compos mentis, Ms Duthie said. “She can’t follow commands, like squeeze my finger or anything like that. They have now put her back into a coma. It’s really horrible to watch.”

Ms Duthie is also concerned that her daughter, whose father died when she was just three, will have to be moved to a state hospital in Spain if she cannot be flown home because the family cannot afford to keep her in private care. “I’m scared to move her now but it’s three grand a day just to be there,” she added.

“Her condition, renal tubular acidosis, is so rare and unique that it’s taken them so long to get her stable. We just need to get her home.” Ms Duthie thanked the public for their generosity and kind wishes.

“From the bottom of my heart, I just want to say thank you to everybody who has sent anything, from a penny to £100, to those who have shared, who have retweeted,” she said. “We are forever indebted to these people who have donated, we could never say thank you enough.”

You can donate on the family’s GoFundMe page.