Juliet Leith from Maidstone spent 12 days in the ICU after contracting Legionnaires’ disease. Picture: Irwin Mitchell LLP<\/p>\n
The 58-year-old spent four days in an induced coma, and her daughters flew out to be by her bedside after being told she might not pull through.<\/p>\n
Juliet had been staying at the TUI BLUE Suite Princess in Playa Taurito when she became ill and was admitted to a nearby hospital after developing severe pneumonia.<\/p>\n
Upon her admission on September 26, 2025, she tested positive for Legionnaires\u2019 disease.<\/p>\n
According to NHS England, Legionnaires’ disease is a lung infection you can get from inhaling droplets of water from things like air conditioning, hot tubs or baths and showers that are not used often. It’s uncommon, but it can be very serious.<\/p>\n
Despite initial treatment, her condition deteriorated, and Juliet was placed in an induced coma for four days, with doctors warning her two daughters – Jenny Gower, 38, and Josie Leith, 34 \u2013 that she may not survive, prompting them to fly from the UK to be by her side.<\/p>\n
Juliet Leith, left, and her sister, Maureen, holidayed at the four-star TUI BLUE Suite Princess in Playa Taurito. Picture: Irwin Mitchell LLP<\/p>\n
A TUI spokesperson said the firm was sorry to hear about Ms Leith\u2019s circumstances but said it was unable to comment due to it being a legal matter.<\/p>\n
Juliet, a retired primary school teacher, said: \u201cI have very vague memories of being in hospital and I didn\u2019t realise how serious things were until I woke up and was told I\u2019d been in an induced coma for four days.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a huge shock. I couldn\u2019t believe how close I\u2019d come to dying \u2013 later the doctors told me my chances of survival were only around 20% and the initial treatment hadn\u2019t worked.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mum-of-two spent 12 days in the ICU before she had recovered enough to return home.<\/p>\n
Upon landing at Gatwick Airport, Juliet was immediately transferred to Maidstone Hospital for further assessment and treatment.<\/p>\n
Juliet Leith nearly died after contracting Legionnaires\u2019 disease. Picture: Irwin Mitchell LLP<\/p>\n
After receiving ongoing care, she has now been discharged and referred to a respiratory consultant. Juliet continues her recovery as an outpatient under specialist supervision.<\/p>\n
Juliet has now instructed serious injury lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate how she fell ill with Legionnaires\u2019 disease on her holiday, which cost her more than \u00a32,000 and was booked through tour operator TUI UK Limited.<\/p>\n
As part of its investigation, the firm would like to hear from anyone who became ill while staying at the TUI BLUE Suite Princess in Gran Canaria.<\/p>\n
Juliet arrived at the resort with her sister, Maureen, on September 18, 2025.<\/p>\n
On September 22, she began to suffer flu-like symptoms and was admitted to the hospital four days later.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first started feeling unwell, I thought it was just flu or maybe Covid. Legionnaires\u2019 disease never even crossed my mind,\u201d Juliet added.<\/p>\n
She was taken to Maidstone Hospital once back in the UK. Picture: Stock<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never imagine something like this happening to you, especially on holiday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hardest part was knowing my children had seen me like that. Even now, I\u2019m still missing chunks of memory and trying to process what happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never imagined Legionnaires\u2019 could be so serious, and I believe there needs to be more awareness of its symptoms and how dangerous it can be.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly after my diagnosis did I learn that simple steps like running showers and checking air conditioning units can help prevent Legionnaires\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know I\u2019m one of the lucky ones. Now, I just want answers and hope that by sharing my experience, we can stop others from finding themselves in the same situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
TUI BLUE Suite Princess in Gran Canaria. Picture: Google<\/p>\n
Symptoms of Legionnaires\u2019 include shortness of breath, a high temperature and chest pain or discomfort, particularly when breathing or coughing.<\/p>\n
Jatinder Paul, the expert international serious injury lawyer at Irwin Mitchell representing Juliet, said: \u201cJuliet\u2019s near-death experience must have been terrifying.<\/p>\n
\u201cPublic buildings like hotels often have complex water systems, so strict precautions are essential to stop the bacteria that cause Legionnaires\u2019 disease from developing.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing can undo what Juliet and her family have endured, but we are committed to getting her answers and specialist support.\u201d<\/p>\n
A TUI spokesperson said: \u201cWe are sorry to hear about Ms Leith\u2019s circumstances as we want customers to have the best possible holiday experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs this is a legal matter, we are unable to comment at this stage.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A retired primary school teacher nearly died after contracting Legionnaires\u2019 disease during a \u00a32,000 holiday to Gran Canaria.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[59,102,192,191,1318,194,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-382148","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-human-interest","11":"tag-kent","12":"tag-maidstone","13":"tag-syndicate","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}