Angela Stubbs and her grandkids Alex and Allyssa stand for a photo at a Christmas gathering in 2017. Stubbs is in the hospital in Mexico battling for her life and her family is running a Go Fund Me to help pay for the expenses.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@MHNmocranker
A Medicine Hat family is asking for the community’s help after one member got ill on a trip to Mexico.
Sue Berner’s mom, Angela Stubbs, is 76 and flew to Mexico in January as a way of escaping the cold and visiting a friend, but the trip quickly turned into a nightmare for the whole family.
“She went down there in the middle of January to visit a friend and to get away from the cold,” said Berner. “Right now we’re on day nine in the hospital and she was sick for a few days before that — so she’s been sick for about two weeks.”
Stubbs went to the hospital with dehydration but then found out she had pneumonia in both lungs, gall stones, an enlarged liver and back pain.
“She can’t breathe on her own right now so they’ve got her on a ventilator,” said Berner. “She’s not on life support but her oxygen (levels) aren’t keeping up when she’s off of it.”
Berner says the complications on the trip all happened at the worst time possible.
“I know if she were at home with my sister she would have been taken to the doctor for a bad back and none of this would have happened,” she said. “Needless to say, it’s expensive right now and we want her to get better.”
Berner and her mom moved to Medicine Hat in 1976 and the Go Fund Me page will be going to helping to pay for Stubbs’ medical care while in Mexico or a trip back to Canada.
“It’s cost $9,000 USD at least,” she said. “Her doctor has brought in numerous specialists to help out and he is saying it will be at least a few more weeks in the hospital – the doctor said he can save her life, but there’s a lot to be done.
“We’ve been looking at getting her on an air ambulance and we’ve been quoted between $20,000-50,000 USD.”
Berner says the family is thankful for everyone who has contributed and everyone considering helping.
The Go Fund Me can be found online at http://www.gofundme.com/angela-stubbs-mum-medical-assisstance
