Essex NHS nurse in coma in Hungary after heart attack needs £50k for air ambulance back to UK

  • Kerstie Metcalf's son Sam told ITV News Anglia's Callum Fairhurst about the family's ordeal.

The son of a seriously ill nurse who has worked for the NHS for 30 years is pleading for help to raise £50,000 to get her home from Hungary.

Kerstie Metcalf had a heart attack while visiting the country over the Easter weekend and is now in a coma, with doctors fearing she has brain damage following a seizure.

But without travel insurance, her family faces the prospect of a £50,000 bill for her care and an air ambulance to transport her home.

The 51-year-old, from Essex, was in Hungary looking at the possibility of moving over there once she retired.

Her son Sam, 28, said it was now crucial to get her back to the NHS so doctors and nurses here could help one of their own.

Mr Metcalf, who described his mum as "an actual hero", said medics in Hungary were not best placed to care for her.

"They're ready to say she's in the palliative care stage," he said. "She's not. She has moved her arms. She has been smiling and moving a bit and responding.

"It's so important to get her back to the NHS.

"It's poignant in a place that she's given so much to, for them now to give back to her. It’s really important that we do that and get her the help she needs. And be around friends and loved ones."

Kerstie Metcalf works as a specialist nurse at three Essex hospitals as part of a 30-year career in the NHS. Credit: Family photo

Ms Metcalf, who works as a senior wound care nurse at three hospitals in Essex, is registered disabled.

Her son said travel insurance "would have been such a high premium it wouldn't have been affordable to her".

He had hoped the government would offer support but is now keeping his fingers crossed that strangers will be willing to help a woman who has dedicated 30 years to helping others.

"I remember during the first Covid lockdown, she sat me down and said 'look, people have said I don't have to work because of my condition, but I want to do my part'," he said.

"She's just the most loving, caring woman you'll ever meet. And it's just so horrible that we've had to go down this road with the fundraising."

Sam Metcalf said he would usually turn to his mum to help him through tough times like this. Credit: ITV News Anglia

An air ambulance to fly Ms Metcalf home will cost around £30,000 and the family estimates they will need another £20,000 to cover medical bills.

A Go Fund Me page has so far raised more than £16,000.

Mr Metcalf said: "This, by far, is the hardest thing I've ever had to do. And the only person I know who would be able to help me through this is my mum. And she's not she's not able to."

A spokesman for the Foreign Office confirmed it was working with a family of a British woman who was in hospital in Hungary.

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