Nottingham gran has health attack on Jet2 flight and goes into coma

A Nottingham grandmother has been left stranded in Croatia in a coma after she suffered an aneurysm while on a flight to Corfu. Barbara Wilkinson, 68 and from Aspley, was on a Jet2 flight from East Midlands Airport to the Greek island when the incident happened on Monday, October 14.

The pensioner was flying out with her 13-year-old granddaughter, Tamara Wilkinson, and a close friend. Her eldest grandchild, 20-year-old Destiny Jordan, was at work in Nottingham when she found out what had happened.

Destiny explained that Barbara was fine when she boarded the flight. While on board, Tamara gave Barbara a sweet before the 68-year-old started coughing.

She then went to sleep and woke up 10 minutes later and started coughing "really badly". This happened again and then she went to sleep for a bit before Tamara tried waking her grandma up to check she was OK.

Barbara did not wake up, however, which is when a flight attendant was called. An emergency landing was then made in Croatia and Barbara is now in a medically induced coma at University Hospital Centre Zagreb in Zagreb, the Croatian capital.

Destiny has been looking after the house and her younger sister since the teenager's return to the UK on October 20 as Barbara is the 13-year-old's legal guardian. Destiny said: "We're heartbroken but I'm trying to keep her life as normal as possible. I'm maintaining the house and looking after everything.

"They keep telling us she is stable. We've not had a lot of change. My sister was really scared and didn't know what to do [on the flight]."

The two girls now want to bring their grandma back to Nottingham for her to receive care here, allowing them to be at her bedside. Destiny explained that Barbara's insurance company has refused to cover the cost of bringing her home. They say they have received a number of quotes for the repatriation procedure of £30,000 to £35,000.

Destiny, who works as a customer service adviser, said: "We applied to some [medical companies] that are pro bono as well so that they would cover the cost but we've not heard back yet. We don't have that kind of money as she is a pensioner. We just want her home to be there with her while she recovers.

"It's so difficult to fly there, not just money-wise but also because I have to go to work and make sure I'm getting my money. The amount of people who have shared and donated to the fundraiser is great. We just want to get it out there and bring grandma home."

On the fundraiser page, Destiny described Barbara as "the most loving, constant presence in our lives". She added that since Barbara has been in hospital, doctors attempted to bring her out of sedation, which was successful at first.

Her condition worsened, unfortunately, and Barbara had to be put back into a coma and doctors had to perform a tracheotomy. The GoFundMe page has so far raised more than £1,500 from 84 donations.

To view the fundraiser, click here.