Residents dig deep to help Mansfield mum bring critically ill baby home from Hong Kong
Residents are rallying round to raise cash to help a devastated Mansfield mum who is trying to bring her critically ill baby home from Hong Kong after the youngster fell gravely ill on holiday.
An online fundraising page has already raised £22,540 to help get little Matthew Lee home to the rest of his family in Mansfield.
Lia’s Wings, the only UK air ambulance charity that delivers life-saving services both in the UK and internationally, are helping the family and say they are determined to find a solution.
The youngster was just nine months old when he travelled to Hong Kong with his mum, Sophia, and grandmother for what should have been a happy family holiday, meeting relatives for the first time.
But everything changed when Matthew became seriously ill with influenza A. His condition deteriorated rapidly, resulting in three devastating cardiac arrests and his brain being deprived of oxygen for 47 minutes.
Now, having spent his first birthday in hospital, Matthew remains critically ill, thousands of miles away from his dad and the rest of his family in Mansfield.
His family desperately wants him home, where he can be reunited with his loved ones and brought back to the NHS care he needs. Due to his serious health issues a private aircraft flight, costing around £200,000, is the most medically appropriate option to get him home safely.
A spokesman for Lia’s Wings said: “We have been working tirelessly to find a solution for Matthew. We have spoken to various commercial airlines, but despite escalating to the clinical director level, have been turned down based on the fact that Matthew is ventilated.
“We've also been speaking with quite a few charter operators, and although many are looking at empty leg options for us, none have come forward with a solution yet that can help.
“However, we're still working on it and not leaving any stone unturned for Matthew.”
Matthew’s Mum Sophia Lee said: “We would never normally ask for help like this. It is a situation we could never have imagined finding ourselves in, and we simply cannot make this happen on our own.
“Our only hope is to get Matthew back to the UK, where he belongs, so he can be reunited with his dad and receive the ongoing specialist care he needs.
“We are just a family who went away on holiday with our healthy little boy, and we desperately want to bring him home. We cannot thank everyone enough for standing with us and helping us fight to make that happen.”
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