A Winnipeg mom and her 17-year-old son, Riley, remain stranded in a hospital in Manresa, Spain, more than 40 days after he was admitted for medical treatment, with no confirmed timeline for returning home.

Illness during Grade 12 trip

Riley was hospitalized in April after contracting a serious lung infection while on a once-in-a-lifetime Grade 12 trip, the Ignatian Camino, with St. Paul’s High School. 

Since then, his mother, Christy Anderson, says they have been navigating complex medical and travel restrictions while trying to arrange a safe return to Canada.

“I pride myself on being an extremely resourceful human being. I have been navigating all the systems and policy roadblocks the entire time that I have been out here, all to advocate for what is best for my son,” said Anderson. “The worst part is, we have no end date in sight. Riley continues to miss out on all the excitement of his senior year leading up to graduation. It is heartbreaking and really difficult to stay positive.”

Missing milestones at home

Back home in Winnipeg, Anderson says she is also missing key family moments, including her younger son’s 13th birthday.

“I often feel both defeated and overwhelmed, and then I am hit with a surge of energy to tackle the next challenge,” said Anderson. “One day, I’m giving up and curling in a ball, crying, the next I’m on my computer all day trying to channel my inner resourceful advocate. It is truly exhausting. But, I’m in it. We’re living it. We don’t have any other choice.”

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Urgent search for a way home

Anderson says they are now urgently seeking a safe route home.

She says Riley has only been cleared by medical staff in Spain to travel via air ambulance. If they wait for approval to fly commercially, she says it could take months. The only alternative would involve a combination of land and sea travel.

“We have so few options available to us, and we are at the mercy of decision-makers who do not calculate lost time and life experiences in their cost/benefit analyses,” said Anderson. “This is where the hopelessness creeps in.”

Working with Canadian officials

Anderson says the family is working with the Canadian Embassy in Spain, which is assisting in efforts to help bring them home safely.

“We are hopeful that with a little bit of a push from our government representatives, perhaps the wheels of indecision and delayed action will begin to move quicker,” said Anderson.  

Last week marked 40 days in hospital, a milestone Anderson says carries personal meaning.

“That number is biblically significant. Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness before he started his ministry,” said Anderson. “We are certainly not Jesus, nor are either of us looking to begin a ministry, but perhaps, just maybe, we might get some Good News of our own. One can hope. And right now, hope is what we are surviving on over here.”

Community support and fundraising

With expenses continuing to mount, a friend of Anderson’s has set up a GoFundMe campaign to help support the family during their extended stay abroad.

“Your generosity is what is keeping us afloat during these uncertain times,” said Anderson. “I know people back home are thinking of us often, praying for us, and willing us home safely and quickly. We just hope to have a solution to this seemingly impossible situation sooner rather than later. Riley deserves to experience what is left of the final days of senior year, at the very least, his graduation. That is what is now at stake.”

She’s asking for continued prayers for his healing, and for doctors and officials to make the right call for travelling home.