A British woman told about how she and her family thought they were being scammed when they grabbed a phone call that stated that their father had been admitted to a Thai hospital – but that was just the start of their nightmare.
Dad-van-Zes Raymond Wallace, a 72-year-old retired truck driver from Sidmouth in Devon, traveled around Thailand when he suddenly fell ill and became on February 14 on February 14 in a hospital in the city of Hua Hin. of breathing problems.
But within a few hours he was stunned and set up a fan while doctors clambed to find out what was wrong with him.
His daughter Karrie has now told MailOnline how when her family was called at 5 o'clock by a Thai Hospital Clerk that demanded payment for medical accounts, they thought they were being surprised.
Karrie, a 40-year-old who works in health care and has set up a GoFundMe page to help with her father's exorbitant medical accounts, said her sister was the one who knitted the bad news for her.
'I knew that as soon as I saw her name flashing on my phone in the morning that something was seriously wrong. She is not a disrespectful person who would call you in a stupid time for no reason, “she told MailOnline.
“I answered the phone and asked,” What's going on? “
“She immediately said” Daddy in the hospital in a really bad way. “
Father of six Raymond Wallace, a 72-year-old retired truck driver from Sidmouth in Devon (photo), traveled around Thailand when he suddenly fell ill
Raymond was stunned within a few hours after checking in and a fan set up
Karrie said that her sister was put on Facetime with Thai doctors in the Bangkok Hospital Hua Hin, who showed an unconscious Raymond in the hospital with tubes that came out of his mouth. She added that there was also black marking around it.
The family was initially told by the Thai doctors that Raymond, who was “fit and healthy without existing disorders, had pneumonia, but later changed their diagnosis into acute respiratory distress syndrome.
But when they called the British embassy in Thailand, they were told that he might have suffered from kidney problems, leaving them behind in the dark that Raymond suffered from.
Karrie said that because Raymond's travel insurance was unexpectedly for his hospital visit, the family is charged more than £ 3,000 a day to take care of Raymond, a bill that is expected to be expected to go to Raymond's longer stay in the hospital to rise.
Doctors told her that if his condition deteriorates, he will be moved to a hospital in the capital of the country, Bangkok.
She and her brother go out this week to try to better understand their father's situation.
'[The doctors] Keep saying to us: “Oh, we will just keep him anesthetized for a few days to see if his vital signs improve. If they improve, we will try to wean him from the fan to see how well he reacts to it.”
'Or if he does not improve those few days, they will transfer him to the Bangkok hospital and place him on a different type of fan. We didn't even get a good picture in terms of when they are thinking of doing it.
“At the moment they say he is critically stable, and there has been no change in the last 48 hours.”
She said she has been worried since Saturday and did not sleep any wink.
'I clearly didn't go asleep anymore That phone call. YYou feel that you don't want to sleep because you don't want to wake up with something that you don't want to hear, “she admitted.
As someone who works in the field of health care, she said she is under pressure to explain what her father has affected, who has worsened the stress she undertook.
His family said they were shocked that he had traveled to Thailand unexpectedly
Raymond is currently being treated in Bangkok Hospital Hua Hin (photo)
'If you tell someone else about it, it makes it very real. My mother made a remark after she facetimated him and said, “He was black around his mouth and eyes,” and she asked me what that was.
'I had something like' I don't know ', and then I got upset because [the question] Made it worse for me. I clearly know that it should not be there, and then other people will take it now. It is not knowing whether something can answer or know where you are. '
Raymond traveled to Asia for three years after he had lost his partner Jane, Karrie's stepmother, from an unexpected brain tumor.
Although he had initially traveled to Goa in India with a friend, a favorite vacation spot for him and Jane, he decided to travel to Thailand after his friend convinced him.
“We were all shocked to find out that he was in Bangkok. We found out when he arrived – he texted my brother and said: “Gone to Thailand with my friend – stay in a nice hotel,” she said.
'We were quite shocked that he left India, because Goa is the place where he and his partner always went. Perhaps it was overwhelming for him to be there, “Karrie added.
Despite the fear, she said that her family worked tirelessly to get Raymond home.
'We are all in a WhatsApp group, everyone mail and tries to do things – someone tries to contact the embassy, ​​I clearly set up the GoFundme. Everyone has literally been so proactive and tries to think of things that we can do.
'The Gofundme was clearly the last thing we wanted to do, we wanted to see if it was something that we could keep for ourselves, but as soon as the bills began to come, we said' this is too much, we can't do this alone. '
MailOnline has contacted the United Kingdom for comment.
