Plea to help bring ill teenager home

What should have been a dream holiday for a young Halifax couple turned into a nightmare when a 17-year-old girl suffered a brain haemorrhage.
Joe Collett and Shanna Newby, who suffered a brain hemorrhage while on holiday in Cyprus.Joe Collett and Shanna Newby, who suffered a brain hemorrhage while on holiday in Cyprus.
Joe Collett and Shanna Newby, who suffered a brain hemorrhage while on holiday in Cyprus.

Shanna Newby was on holiday in Cyprus with her boyfriend Joe Collett, 18, and his family when disaster struck.

The teenager, a home care assistant from Mixenden, is now waiting in a hospital bed in Nicosia and “lucky to be alive” with her family by her side.

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Shanna’s mum, Karen Rawling, said: “This whole situation has been like a bad dream. She was a healthy young lady having a holiday, next thing she’s in hospital for one condition before rapidly deteriorating dramatically by haemorrhaging resulting in four serious blood clots.

“The doctors have done a fantastic job in three hospitals over here in Cyprus but Shanna needs more help from specialist people in a specialist hospital in the UK.

“They have said she is very lucky to be alive and this is a very dangerous condition.

“She’s lost the use of her limbs and there is a problem with her eye sight. She has been in and out of consciousness but is a bit more alert now and she is on a constant drip having drugs pumped into her.”

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Karen and her other daughter, Naiomi, have flown out to be at Shanna’s bedside and her loved ones are trying to raise funds to bring her home from Cyprus to provide her with the vital specialist treatment she needs in the UK.

Karen said: “This has been an emotional roller coaster and I just want my little girl back home to England.

“We are so thankful for the kindness of everyone who has donated to help provide an air ambulance to bring Shanna home. This is the safest way for Shanna to travel back to the UK with medical staff and machines on board.

“Please if you can, help us to fund Shanna’s return so she can receive the specialist treatment she requires.”

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It was initially expected that Shanna would spend a week in hospital but experts have said this is more likely to be a month.

Neurologists and neurosurgeons at Nicosia General Hospital are monitoring her condition day by day.

Visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/Shanna to help bring Shanna home.

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