British mum stuck in Spanish hospital for Christmas after becoming paralysed following stroke on holiday
A British mother remains hospitalised in Murcia, Spain after suffering a devastating stroke during what was meant to be a short holiday visit to her parents.
Robyn Taylor, 34, from Macclesfield in Cheshire, was found collapsed on her bedroom floor on September 11, just one day before she and her 10-year-old daughter Alana were due to return home.
She was rushed to hospital where she suffered two brain haemorrhages and required partial skull removal.
Ms Taylor remains unable to speak and is paralysed on the right side of her body.
She is blind in one eye and must receive all food and water through a tube in her stomach.
Though she has emerged from her initial coma, her father Tony, 59, reports varying levels of awareness, saying: “Some days we get recognition from her, other days we get nothing.”
The family has placed photos in her hospital room, hoping to stimulate her memory.
The family has successfully raised the £12,565 needed for Robyn’s repatriation to the UK.
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The costs were not covered by her Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC), which only provides emergency and medically necessary healthcare across the EU.
Her parents launched an online fundraising campaign to cover the expenses of bringing her back to Britain.
They are now hoping she will be well enough to make the journey home in January.
“It is a situation you have never been in before,” explains Tony.
“When it first happened it was like a parallel universe and a massive emotional rollercoaster.”
“Three weeks felt like six months, it consumes you and becomes everything you do, think and talk about,” he adds.
The family is particularly concerned as Robyn had no previous history of stroke symptoms.
“She has no history of stroke symptoms and there is no family history, we want to know why it happened at such a young age,” says Tony.
Robyn’s parents Tony and Karen, who have lived in Spain for 15 years, are currently caring for their granddaughter Alana.
Though they have tried to protect Alana from the worst aspects of the situation, she has been told her mother may not be the same again.
Once back in the UK, Robyn is expected to begin intensive rehabilitation, including physiotherapy, speech therapy and neuro stimulation.
“It is all up in the air and that is the frustration. We try to remain positive,” says Tony.