John is happy to be home after holiday health ordeal
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A CAITHNESS man says he is delighted to be home after taking ill on holiday in Spain and fearing he and his family could be stranded there due to the coronavirus pandemic.
John Ferguson, his wife Louise and their two adult children, Aislinn and Christopher, went to Lanzarote, a Spanish island off the coast of west Africa, for a break.
But after just a few days, John became unwell, was taken to hospital and ended up in an induced coma. He was later flown by air ambulance to a larger hospital in Gran Canaria.
The clock was ticking as we had nowhere to stay as all the hotels were closing.
John (67), who lives in Wick, still has to undergo tests locally as doctors try to identify the source of the problem. It is thought he had a seizure which could have affected his heart.
He was on a day trip to Costa Teguise with the rest of the family when he took ill after a walk along the beachfront. "Everything was fine until then," he said. "I was just taking the top off a bottle of water and that was it."
John, a retired train conductor, was in intensive care in Lanzarote initially and later transferred on a medical flight to Las Palmas in Gran Canaria where he was in hospital for 12 days before being housed in a nearby hotel as their insurance company tried to get them home.
Aislinn said: "It was a worry as everything was in lockdown over there as a result of the coronavirus. We were told if we didn’t get home we could have been there until the end of April or May.
"The clock was also ticking as we had nowhere to stay as all the hotels were closing by order of the Spanish government. Our insurance company eventually managed to get an air ambulance that took us back to Inverness and then back home. It was a stressful time."
"We are all absolutely delighted to be home and hope dad gets follow-up treatments but we totally understand the NHS is stretched to the max just now. The German crew on the air ambulance were brilliant and so glad they agreed to get us home."
John said: "We got back home on Monday night after a flight from Spain and stop off in Vigo for refuelling and then were taken by ambulance from Inverness to Wick.
"I found the trip back very exhausting but am delighted to be home. We could have been stuck there for a long time.
"I would like to thank lots of family and friends and even people I don't know for their help and support."
He paid tribute to Louise, Christopher and to Aislinn whose support he described as "tremendous" and "way beyond ten out of ten".
Louise (71) said: "We still do not know what happened to John and more medical tests will be required to prevent a recurrence. He was to have more tests done in hospital in Gran Canaria but that did not happen because of the coronavirus and he was discharged.
"It was a stressful time as if we didn’t get flown home when we did we would have been without accommodation due to the Spanish government's response to the coronavirus. We are very glad to be back home."
