Trying to get her home

[okarol]

Trying to get her home
Posted 3 days ago
Sarah Junkin

Cochrane Times

A Cochrane woman who has been confined to hospitals in west Africa and more recently Spain, is still on a hemodialysis machine that doctors hope will stabilise her kidneys at least until she can be airlifted back to Canada.

Christine Condy became ill in Accra, Ghana while on vacation with her husband Naabeen (Elias) Condy in early January.

After several weeks of being treated for blood poisoning, she was finally well enough to be airlifted to Malaga, Spain where she remains today, heavily sedated and mostly on a ventilator to help combat the fluid in her lungs. Doctors are monitoring her platelet count which has been too low for the young woman to be moved.

Condy's parents, Cevyn and Marilyn Linnard have been anxiously staying in touch with their son-in-law by phone and email. Until recently, they did not believe they'd be able to travel to Spain due to financial limitations.

But that changed due to "a miracle" according to Marilyn.

"We were able to get one ticket through insurance," she said. "The other one we have no idea where it came from."

On March 5, the pair flew via London, England, to Malaga, and the following day were sitting by their daughter's bedside.

In an email to the Cochrane Times the Linnards said that when Marilyn touched her daughter's arm, Condy's eyes popped open and she shook her head to acknowledge her parents were finally there.

"It is really hard to see her this way," Cevyn wrote, "but now we know that it is all to make her better and get her home, even the doctor on call tonight said he wants to see her go home."

Condy remains on the ventilator and hemodialysis.

The Linnards are staying in a Malaga timeshare lent to them by their son, and say they hope they will be seeing their daughter off on a plane even before their own two-week trip is over.

In the meantime, finances remain a problem for the young couple on account of both of them missing so much work.

An account has been set up at the TD Bank in Cochrane, but Marilyn says donations have been slow.

"I'm sort of shocked," she said. "I thought people would have given more to help, but maybe when they see the pictures and how she looks, that will help."

The account is #6300097, branch #8102, under the name of Linnard for Christine Condy. The Linnards estimate their daughter will be off work for three or four months after she returns home.

"It's been so up and down," said Marilyn. "But I'm so relieved to see her at last."

sarah@cochranetimes.com

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