Brit widow fighting for life in coma after suffering seizure on tragic trip to Turkey to scatter late husband’s ashes
A BRIT widow is fighting for her life in Turkey after being put in an induced coma – and her family are desperate to get her home.
Bereaved Cerys Rees, 34 went to Antalya, Turkey with the intention of scattering her husband’s ashes but was hospitalised from a seizure.
Cerys from Pontypridd, South Wales, lost her husband Gareth earlier this year and promised to scatter his ashes in every place she visited.
After suffering from the seizure, worried friends began a fundraiser to help pay for her treatment so she could get home.
Some even desperately flew to be with her in hospital, but the Welsh widow fell further ill and is now on a life-support machine.
Her sister Rhianna Boundford said: “Friends arrived in Turkey and she was talking a bit yesterday – they went back in at 7pm to find she was intubated and on life support in a coma.”
She described how Cerys horrifically suffered collapsed veins and had been sedated to prevent a life-threatening seizure.
Rhianna continued: “We as a family are absolutely petrified for her life and scared we may lose her in Turkey if we don’t get her back.
“Things can’t get any worse. We just want her home in hope the ICU at the Heath hospital can help her.”
Cerys has dealt with horrific circumstances in the past few years.
Her husband Gareth died in January this year, and she previously tragically lost her brother in 2019 and her father in 2020.
Her family now look to raise £38,000 to fly Cerys home in a private air ambulance.
Cerys and her husband were hit by a drunk driver in October 2022, causing her to have a seizure.
She is also being treated for lupus at Turkey’s Baskent University Hospital.
Rhianna said: “I think the condition is super rare.
“I’ve asked and asked for specialist help but they say today there are no specialist hospitals – we are petrified obviously and we have the fight with the insurance company.
“I have been on to them to see if they can help in any way.”
She said the family are in a battle with the insurance company as they claim Cerys had not disclosed a pre-existing epilepsy diagnosis.
But Cerys’ family deny the claim and say she was never diagnosed with it.
Rhianna said: “The hospital are doing their very best and are now helping Cerys friends that are there organise air ambulance but we simply don’t have enough funds at the minute.
“I can’t thank the public enough for the funds they have already donated. I just hope we can raise more publicity into the seriousness of her illness.
“Myself and Cerys’ mother are just living in fear, struggling to cope but trying to do as much as we can.”
The family have organised various events to help fund travel costs as well as the fundraising page.
