The family of a New Zealand woman who was placed in intensive care in Bali after suffering from a twisted bowel are facing a $136,000 bill to bring her home.
Mother-of-two Abby Hartley was on a well-deserved getaway to the Indonesian island when she started experienced severe pain shortly after arriving on August 1.
She was rushed to the nearest hospital, where she was placed into an induced coma – before being quickly transferred to the ICU at BIMC hospital Nusa Dua to be treated for a twisted bowel.
New Zealand mum, Abby Hartley (pictured, centre), has been in hospital in Bali since August 1 after suffering severe pain from twisted bowel – and her family now say she will need to be flown home in a specialist aircraft at a cost of around NZD$150,000
The family was then forced to launch a desperate plea to raise money for their loved one after her insurance company refused to cover her medical costs.
In a post on the Givealittle fundraising page on Sunday, daughter Sophie said her mother had become resistant to the antibiotics in Bali and needed to be flown home.
She said her mother’s condition was too unstable, though, to fly on a commercial plane and she would need a specialised aircraft to get back to New Zealand.
Mrs Hartley’s family said in a post on the Givealittle fundraising page on Sunday that she had become resistant to all the antibiotics in Bali and would need to be flown home to New Zealand to be treated properly
She said: ‘An EVAC comes at a very big cost – $150,000.
‘Re-mortgaging our house we can come up with roughly $60,000 – and we are hoping with how amazing this page has been we can get a little more help to get mum home.’
‘We need her home – doctors are running out of options.’
Mrs Hartley was forced to undergo emergency surgery to remove the dead bowel a day after arriving in hospital.
Despite spending 48 hours in recovery, Mrs Hartley quickly took a turn for the worse and developed acute respiratory distress syndrome where she was only taking in 70 per cent oxygen.
‘The doctors made the call to put her into an induced coma and keep her on an oxygen machine to avoid any further deprivation of oxygen to her brain,’ said Mrs Hartley’s daughter Sarah.
‘Dad told us kids to get on the first plane over from NZ as things weren’t looking too good and mum needed all the support she could get,’
The family of Sarah Hartley (pictured, right) has raised around NZD$119,000 (AUD$109,000) after their insurance company refused to pay her mother’s hefty medical bills
Mrs Hartley was in ICU at BIMC hospital Nusa Dua (pictured) before being moved to a public hospital in Badung
She was moved to a public hospital on the island on August 12 as doctors told the family her treatment would be cheaper.
The ‘Help Abby Fight’ page was created on August 9 and has already received more than NZD$119,000 (AUD$109,000) in donations.
‘Our mum is fighting for her life in ICU in a hospital in Bali and unfortunately insurance company is refusing to cover any medical costs,’ the campaign reads.