Updated at 8.45pm
OVER €100,000 has been raised for Aisling Brady, a teacher from Trim who suffered multiple cardiac arrests and a stroke last month while working in the United Arab Emirates.
Aisling, who’s 26, moved to the Gulf state last year after taking an extended break from her hometown job in Trim, Co Meath.
Arriving for work on 27 November, she fainted and hit her head hard on the floor, according to the GoFundMe page set up to try and bring her home for continued treatment.
Her colleagues called an ambulance for Aisling, but her condition began to take a serious turn on the way to hospital.
According to the page, she suffered three seizures on the journey. Once in hospital she suffered the first of three cardiac arrests.
“This was then further complicated with a stroke, caused by a shower of smaller clots to the brain.
This has caused serious damage to the brain and, combined with the total of twelve minutes of hypoxia, really left her cardio-vascular system and brain very, very weak.
The cause of the seizures and arrests, according to the GoFundme page was “a pulmonary embolism which had formed in her leg over a long period of time, rushing up to her heart and eventually ending up caught in her lungs”.
Air ambulance
The target amount on the GoFundMe page was for €80,000, which is to be used to fly Aisling home to continue her treatment here.
“Everybody that knows Aisling understands she is resilient, driven, stubborn and tenacious and she will not settle for anything less than getting her life back up to speed. With the right help and support, there is every hope we can together get her back to her loving and caring self.
“She has left huge footprints in the world, on our lives, let’s make sure she can keep doing that.
“The first part of Aisling’s long term rehabilitation and recovery involves getting her home to Ireland.
Her medical insurance provided by the school does not cover anything with regards to emergency medical evacuation or rehabilitation at home, so [her parents] Terry and Antonette will need to front these costs.
Her loved ones have researched the best course of action and spoken to the embassy for advice, the GoFundMe page says.
“We have decided to go for a full air ambulance. This is a jet which will fly at a much lower altitude (roughly 10,000 feet) and is essentially a hospital in the sky.
“She will have a cardiac specialist, neuro specialist, general doctor and nurses on-board, as well as a pre-mapped routes with potential emergency landing locations aligned.
“Once landed they will arrange for her to be made comfortable in a hospital in Ireland. It is a complete bed to bed service and on that basis is extremely expensive.
“Now, as Aisling’s condition improves over the coming weeks, there may be areas that we can save on the total amount and this cost may reduce, however any remaining money will go into Aisling’s rehabilitation programme, which is going to be a long and hard road for all involved.
This could be anything from helping her learn to communicate again, motor skills or even logical thinking, it is a very broad spectrum which we do not have information on but we will keep everybody updated.
The fundraising page adds that a special account has been set up in Ireland “and all money raised will go into that and be used to enable the family to get the Aisling we all know and love back to her big hearted self”. You can find the GoFundMe page here.
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