Family "eternally grateful" for donations as carer leaves hospital in South Africa

Friday 14 October 2022

A “well loved” local carer and mother who was fighting for her life after a sudden bout of illness on holiday in South Africa is now out of hospital.

After being unable to raise the funds necessary to pay for medical repatriation to Jersey, Angela Scott has spent the last couple of weeks in intensive care in a South African hospital due to unexpectedly contracting bacterial pneumonia whilst visiting family.

Angela was finally well enough to be moved out of intensive care and was moved to the lower-level 'high care' unit last weekend. After three days there, she was moved to a regular ward.

Angela had responded well to the antibiotic treatment for the bacterial infection, but had to remain in hospital due to still needing a ventilator for oxygen.

Angela’s partner, Suzette Jansen Van Rensburg, flew to South Africa to be with her and described the whole situation as an "absolute nightmare". 

Pictured: Angela, Suzette and Angela's daughter, Amelia.

Due to being an Intensive Care nurse at the Jersey General Hospital, Suzette looked into the possibility of hiring oxygen equipment in order to be able to nurse Angela herself outside of hospital in South Africa which has been a success.

Suzette described “feeling much better now that Angie is out of hospital!” 

Despite this progress, Angie is “still weak” and “constantly” reliant on oxygen. Suzette explained that her “lungs still have a long way to go in terms of healing”. Angela is also struggling to deal with the South African heat in her fragile state, which is not helping her to get better.

Although the couple are “desperate to come home” to Angela’s 16-year-old daughter Amelia, it will be at least two weeks before she can be deemed fit to fly.

Even then, Angela will require a doctor to confirm that she is well enough to travel and then will also have to seek approval from the airline’s medical team.

Thankfully, the plane that would be transporting the couple back from South Africa to London is equipped to supply additional oxygen but only for one passenger per flight.

Pictured: The fundraiser has now raised over £18,000.

Meanwhile, the dreaded medical bills have been continuously building up after Suzette mistakenly believed that an email requesting more information for their travel insurance was a confirmation email whilst working a night shift.

The total amount owed for medical bills now is almost £30,000, and still growing. Suzette also suspects that they are “being taken advantage of”, as due to being “private and self-funded” they can “basically charge whatever they want!”

Having looked over the bills, Suzette expects that they are being charged around 200% more than the expected price of medical care. 

She described the bills as “shocking”, adding: “I feel sorry for the people in this country who can’t afford private healthcare plans.”

However, Suzette is “eternally grateful” to everyone who has donated to the Go Fund Me page which was set up by Angela’s friends.

The total now stands at over £18,00 which Suzette said is “astounding” and will “help out massively”. 

She added: “I want to thank everyone who has donated - we never expected that amount.”