Irish man facing huge medical bills after being hospitalised in Canada
The friends of a man who was hospitalised while on holiday are fundraising to help him cover the cost of his medical bills. John Flood was on a flight to Toronto when he was struck by what he thought was food poisoning. But the secondary school teacher was left struggling as his health got worse during the long flight. John's friend Alan Marrinan launched a GoFundMe to help with his medical bills. He told Dublin Live: "He had eaten a seafood salad at the airport so we thought it was food poisoning. It didn’t settled during the flight. He was sick for most of the six-seven hours. Then the paramedics came onboard, had a look at him and thought he’s not too bad, so we wheelchaired him out of the airport." John had to be rushed Toronto General Hospital where doctors discovered he had appendicitis. Alan, who is a doctor in Dublin, said: "He had acute appendicitis with localised perforation so it was a nasty appendicitis." Unfortunately, John was struck with another major blow when he realised he forgot to apply for travel insurance before the trip. Alan said: "The cost of what [the treatment] could be turned out to be very expensive from there on in. He was a bit freaked about potentially having to spend €8,000 on an operation." Alan, who became friends with John during their time together at Trinity College Dublin, said the Carlow man wanted to go home instead of undergoing surgery in Canada. He said: "We talked him around because he was still quite sick. He was needing a lot of pain relief. Eventually he ended up agreeing to undergo the operation and the bill started accumulating."
John and his friends in Toronto General Hospital
Alan set up an online fundraiser to help so he would have at least a part of the cost covered. He explained: "In retrospect, had he not gone for the operation, he’d probably still be quite sick in hospital and may have ended up having had the operation at a later date which could have costed more. "He had a lot of infection in his abdomen. It took a while for that to settle. He was in for a good few days. He actually got discharged yesterday. He got on the plane with us yesterday evening and survived the flight home." Alan said: "The daily cost for being in hospital was €3,600 as a flate rate and then all the other expenses were every person that he saw, every intervention that he had was billed seperately. So he had to pay about €10,000 already and that’s just the basics." Alan and his friends are hoping to raise €16,000 via the GoFundMe page. Unfortunately, John's birthday fell while he was still in hospital on April 23. Alan added: "John is now at a friend’s place in Dublin. He’s still a bit sore. He’s still too sick to drive. He wasn’t able to walk in the airport. He’s still in a lot of pain. He’s going to see how he’s fixed on Sunday or Monday." Join our Dublin Live breaking news service on WhatsApp. Click this link to receive your daily dose of Dublin Live content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
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