A Chester family is desperate to bring their critically ill mum home from Bulgaria after she suffered a stroke and brain haemorrhage last month.

Sixty-six-year-old Maureen Morton had been due to travel from her dream retirement home in Bulgaria – where she moved in 2013 – to spend the first Christmas in 17 years with her son Paul and his family.

But Paul, 44, received a devastating phone call from the British Consulate, which told him his mum was unconscious and paralysed down one side of her body after suffering a ‘massive’ brain haemorrhage and stroke.

Maureen with son Paul and grandson Jordan
Maureen with son Paul and grandson Jordan

Paul, a postman, and his sister Sarah immediately flew out to be by her side at St Marina Hospital, which Paul says has been ‘amazing’.

Now they want to bring her home so they can care for her, but need around £26,000 to medically evacuate her.

Paul said: “The last email we received from the British Embassy explained that the St Marina Hospital administration has become insistent that my mum needs to be discharged and transferred to a hospice.

“We have exhausted all options open to us and we just don’t know what to do for the best.

“We all, especially the grandchildren, so desperately want her back safely in the UK so we can look after her.”

Friends, family members and random well-wishers have already helped raised more than £5,000 on a GoFundMe page Paul and Sarah have set up, called A Family’s New Year’s Wish.

Paul says the appeal’s success has given them hope and they are ‘so thankful for the generosity of those who have donated’.

GoFundMe spokeswoman Kelsea Little added: “It is clear that Maureen is dearly loved by her whole family, and it’s heartening to see how the community is pulling together to ensure she receives the medical care she needs.

“We wish her all the best along the road to recovery.”

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