A young Brit who was rushed to intensive care after falling ill while on holiday in Spain with her boyfriend faces months before she can return home.
Millie Jackson, who was 19 at the time of the holiday but has since turned 20, went on holiday with her boyfriend Cameron West at the beginning of the month and was due to have a tumour removed from her brain in July.
The nursery worker, from Ystrad Rhondda in Wales, lives with a rare genetic condition called Hippel-Lindau disease which causes benign cysts and tumours to grow in parts of the body.
Millie lives with a rare condition and needed emergency brain surgery while on holiday (Suzy Jackson)
Millie wth her mum Suzy and younger sister (Suzy Jackson)The condition runs in her family with Millie's mum and uncle also living with the condition, WalesOnline reported. Millie was tested for and diagnosed with the condition at the age of six, and as a result has routine MRIs. Doctors in Wales were keen to remove one tumour from her brain this summer as it had grown in size.
Before the surgery, Millie was told by medics she was fit to fly and wanted to go on holiday to relax ahead of her operation. Tragically, while she was away she started to become ill and was rushed to hospital on June 13.
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Millie's mum, Suzy Jackson, 42, confirmed doctors had to perform emergency surgery after she became desperately ill, she said: "They've done her scans and they said she's not safe to fly because she was dizzy, being sick, she couldn't walk. She was really, really ill with it. So they've done the emergency brain surgery to remove the tumour on the cerebellum."
The cerebellum is the part of the brain that controls motor movement and balance control. Suzy said the tumour was removed until she took a turn for the worse.
The mum added: "She woke up all right. The tumour was removed. Everything was all right the Monday afternoon [when she had the surgery]. On the Tuesday, when her partner had gone to the hospital, he was told she was in critical care, took a turn for the worse, she had swelling on the brain and a build-up of fluid."
Doctors called Suzy to update her on her daughter's condition but she is also due to have another tumour removed from the same part of the brain today (Thursday, June 27). The mum has flown out to be with her daughter as Mollie has been under sedation for the most part and is on a high dose of antibiotics to fight an infection that she has developed.
The plan is for a second surgery to be performed to drain the fluid build-up on her brain once the course of antibiotics is complete
Millie's breathing has been supported by a tube in her throat throughout this time but doctors were able to perform a tracheostomy which should allow Millie more awake time through her recovery. Suzy was able to see Millie awake before she flew home on Tuesday though Millie's throat was too swollen to be able to speak.
Suzy said: "When I got there they had managed to wake her up. She can't talk because of the swelling in her mouth but she was mouthing things. She was trying to speak sign language because she works in a school and she knows sign language but we don't speak sign. So I could see the frustration on her face. But she could mouth 'I love you' and that she was in a lot of pain."
Millie has been put in her own room in the intensive care ward of the Spanish hospital. Suzy has had to return home to undergo her own operation but hopes to get back out to her daughter as soon as possible. She said the care Millie has received has been exceptional.
Millie's boyfriend Cameron plans to stay in Spain to be close to Millie. Her family said they are grateful her medical care is being covered by the UK Global Health Insurance Card, but have set up a fundraiser to support the costs for Cameron to stay by her side until she is able to fly home.
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