A mum who kept her blood tests a secret for ‘fear of worrying her husband’ is now stranded in Kenya with liver failure and is facing an £80,000 bill that her insurance won’t cover. Lee Flint and her husband Jack Flint jetted off to Kenya on September 16 to continue their lifelong charity work and celebrate Jack’s cancer-free diagnosis.
However, a few weeks after arriving in the East African nation, 77-year-old Lee was found unresponsive in her bed and rushed to the Mombasa Intensive Care Unit. Doctors informed Jack that Lee had suffered grade four kidney and liver failure, her organs were shutting down, and she remains critically ill with internal bleeding and blood poisoning.
Despite having insurance cover for their trip, the couple can’t claim it as Lee didn’t declare any pre-existing conditions. Lee’s son Jamie Flint, 52, revealed that his mum had undergone a blood test and scan before the trip, but no one knew about it until she fell ill in Kenya.
Jamie suspects his mum didn’t tell her husband about the tests because she didn’t want to worry him, as he had just finished chemotherapy and been given the all-clear from his own cancer battle. This meant that when Jack filled out the holiday insurance forms, he was unaware of the tests – which have now invalidated her insurance, reports Surrey Live.
A solar engineer has launched a GoFundMe page to help raise the £80,000 needed to fly his mother home, as well as cover her mounting hospital bills. Jamie, from Addlestone, Surrey, explained: “After my dad had finished his chemotherapy and my mum was his main carer which took a lot out of her, they inevitably made a mistake on the insurance form.
Pictured right to left: Lee Flint, 77, and Jack Flint, 80
(Image: Kennedy News and Media)
“A few months before that my mum had been to the doctor’s (for some blood tests). My mum didn’t want to stress my dad out, she kept it to herself. But in the meantime she was becoming poorly and we didn’t realise. My dad was filling out the insurance form on his laptop and made a mistake and that’s why it’s invalid. It’s a living nightmare really.”
Jamie continued: “One day she was not responsive in her bed and they had no idea what happened. She has kidney and liver failure so her organs are shutting down.
“I know she’s got an internal bleed. She had blood poisoning and that’s what was causing her to fall in and out of consciousness. I was heartbroken and felt completely helpless. I told my dad I have to come out there.”
Jamie concluded: “He told me to sit tight at home. I kept myself busy by ripping their bathroom out, so I was going to put in a disabled shower. That’s when I thought they were coming home, but mum has got worse and worse. I feel completely helpless, just because I am stuck in England.”
Jamie has shared his parents’ distressing ordeal, highlighting his mum’s simple mistake during an overwhelming time: “My mum and dad did the question wrong over the phone or the laptop but my dad had just been really poorly with his chemo, my mum had been exhausted. She is a clever lady but she made a mistake. My dad was more concerned about his insurance because he had just had chemo and cancer, he was more concerned about anything that might happen to him than my mum.”
It remains uncertain whether Lee knew her test results as she can no longer communicate. For more than three decades, the couple has been committed to charity work in Watamu, Kenya, often spending extended periods there. On their latest trip, they brought 62 kilos of clothing and reading glasses for local schools and orphanages.
Jamie recalls how his parents started their philanthropic journey: “In 1991 they went to a place called Watamu and were shocked with how little the people had, so they started sponsoring local schools and doctors.
“They’ve been tirelessly doing charity work for 30 years, they go a few times a year. My mum lived in Kenya for five years when she was younger, that is why she has a love for the country.”
Expressing pride in his humanitarian parents, Jamie states: “My parents have dedicated their lives to helping others and fundraising in the country they love.”
Through a GoFundMe campaign, Jamie has already raised more than half of their target to support them.
Imparting a cautionary message to others after what happened to Lee, Jamie advises: “Just be absolutely thorough when you do something like this, go over and over it again if you’re elderly or have any past history of being poorly.
“You’ve got to do it and you do feel a bit of anger during these companies, they are what they are, you have to do these things correctly. I wouldn’t want this to happen to anyone else. All I want is for my mum to come home but the hospital bills are extortionately high.”
They continued with gratitude, saying, “I am absolutely humbled by the people, I’m not great with social media but I feel completely humbled and blessed, it makes me almost cry when I think about it.”
Supporters are encouraged to donate to the cause here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/please-help-save-my-mums-life-bring-her-home.
The NHS details that liver and kidney failure occur when a patient encounters sudden and severe liver failure without previous long-term liver disease signs. An urgent liver transplant could be the crucial life-saving procedure in such instances.
Additionally, patients suffering from end-stage liver disease may also experience kidney failure, which can often be reversible post-liver transplant. In certain cases, however, a combined liver and kidney transplant may be necessary.