One last trip has become a costly misadventure for a local family.
Shirley Duff, a terminally ill woman from Kitchener, got sick on a vacation to the Bahamas.
The bills from her hospital stay and air ambulance back home ended up costing more than $50,000.
“We had to empty our accounts to pay them,” said Jessica James, Duff’s daughter.
The family had to pay more than $20,000 up front for the air ambulance.
Duff was given a year to live after she was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer that spread to her brain, liver lymphnodes, and bones.
A family vacation was one of the items on her bucket list.
Duff was unable to purchase health insurance beforehand due to her illness.
“It was supposed to be our last family get-together,” said Josh James, Duff’s son.
The family started their vacation by swimming with dolphins.
When they later boarded a cruise ship, Duff felt sick. She thought it was just a rough day.
After she was brought to the hospital, she was deemed unfit to fly back home commercially.
Duff’s family took the flight home while she was stuck in the Bahamas by herself. She got on the air ambulance back to Waterloo Region a week later.
“You get afraid,” she said. “You’re all alone in a foreign place you’ve never been before.”
An online fundraising campaign to help cover the costs has already reached more than $13,000.
“Having to ask for help was a hard thing to do,” said Duff. “But I can’t do it alone.”
She says the trip was a risk she was willing to take to create a memory with her family before it was too late.
Duff has been admitted to Grand River Hospital. She will be getting her blocked catheter checked and an x-ray for a possible chest infection.
