Family appeal for help to bring home critically ill Rochdale dad stuck in Philippines

A son whose dad is stuck in the Philippines needing an urgent liver transplant has issued a desperate appeal for help to bring him home. Reece Jones, from Rochdale, says his father Nicholas was rushed to hospital with liver cirrhosis while on holiday in Calapan.

He says the 56-year-old has been placed on a ventilating incubator for oxygen but his condition is "deteriorating".

The 26-year-old says his dad's care is costing the family nearly £500 per day, and estimates they've racked up a bill of around £8,000 over several weeks.

He is pleading to the public to help fund his treatment and travel home, saying the longer he stays abroad, the "worse" his situation gets.

Reece flew out with partner Ella Johnson as soon as Nicholas was admitted to hospital and said he "cannot put into words" what the family have been doing "on a minute by minute basis" to help.

"We have slept about 15 hours in nearly two weeks," he said.

"We are stuck in a public hospital where the prices for the care for a foreigner are extremely expensive.

"We have been stuck over here for a couple of weeks and begging for help to get him home urgently. Air ambulances are so expensive and as he is not insured we cannot afford this."

Ella has set up a GoFundMe which has so far raised over £6,000, but the cost of further treatment and an air ambulance back to the UK is likely to add up to thousands more.

Reece, who sadly has also lost his mother to motor neurone disease, said he is "begging" for help.

"We just really want to get him back to the UK to receive proper medical treatment and undergo the only surgery that will save him, a liver transplant.

"He doesn't have long left at all we are in desperate need of help!"

On the GoFundMe, Ella wrote: "My partner's dad is currently stuck in a Philippine hospital with liver cirrhosis and is needing urgent medical treatment for survival.

"We have managed to get over here to be with him and communicate with doctors over here for treatment.

"As you can imagine the private medical bills for a foreigner are really expensive but these treatments are vital to save his life. A liver transplant is going to be the only way he will survive.

"My partner has already lost his mum and has nobody else other than his dad. Please please if anybody can help and spare anything or share the go fund me to raise some money to help us pay these bills or potentially pay to privately get him home we would be so so grateful."

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