Jade Bird was due to fly back home when she fell ill at the airport
Jade Bird (left) with her mum Janine
Friends of a mum battling meningitis after falling ill on holiday have posted an update on her condition. Jade Bird, 33, from Abergele had been on a break in Tenerife and was due to fly back last Wednesday.
But the mum-of-one from Abergele fell ill while in the airport waiting to fly home. She was taken to hospital and a scan found an infection on her brain which developed into meningitis. It saw her placed in an induced coma.
Jade’s sister in law Victoria Bird, and Jade’s mum Janine have flown out to Tenerife to be at her bedside and are desperate to bring her home. A Gofundme has been started to support Jade, who works as a carer for vulnerable adults, and her family. They have already raised more than £9,300 towards a medical evacuation flight which could cost more than £50,000. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox
It was started by close close friend Jo McIver, who today shared an update on Jade’s condition.
She said: “Jade remains sedated so the doctors can help keep her settled. They have explained that they are continuing to keep her sedated at the moment because when she begins to come around she becomes extremely agitated.
“Their concern right now is that although Jade is starting to wake slightly at times, she is not responding neurologically in the way they would hope. The team are monitoring her very closely.
Jade Bird (right) with friend Jo Mclver
“Jade has an MRI scan and EEG scheduled which will help the doctors assess the swelling and look for any damage to the brain. We are hoping this will give a clearer picture of what is happening and what the next steps might be.
“Thank you so much to everyone who has donated, shared the page, and sent messages of support. It means more than we can say during such a difficult time. Please continue to share Jade’s GoFundMe if you can, every share really does help us move closer to getting her home when she is well enough to travel.
“Thank you all again for your kindness and support.”
Jade Bird on holiday
Jade’s sister-in-law, Victoria Bird, from Rhuallt, told North Wales Live that they were awaiting news from the scans today.
Speaking yesterday, she said: “We are absolutely heartbroken and it is so hard being in another country with the language barrier.
“There is going be a point very soon that we are going to have to fly home as we just don’t have the money to stay here, but how do we fly home without her? How can we leave her here knowing we can’t see her and not being able to get an update on if she is ok.”
The family investigated medical evacuation flights and found this costs between £50,000 and £100,000.
In an appeal Victoria said: “As you can imagine raising that amount of money without help from people like yourselves is going to be so hard. Jade is such a bubbly person, she’s so kind hearted and loving and would do anything for anyone.”
They are dreading having to tell Skyla her mum is poorly and fear this will be even worse if Jade is still in another country and she can’t see her.
Victoria added: “If you are able to help I thank you from the bottom of my heart and will always be so grateful. We just need her home, we can’t leave her here but we can’t stay here forever ourselves as we can’t afford too.”