Pensioner left in month-long coma after catching deadly disease on Jet2 holiday
08.05.2022 - 19:07
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
A pensioner was left in a month-long coma after catching a deadly disease while on a Jet2 holiday to Benidorm.
David Marshall, 79, was diagnosed with legionnaires disease, a severe form of pneumonia, which he says may have been caused by a broken air conditioning unit in his hotel room.
The retired union official added it is possible he may not recover from the illness, Manchester Evening News reports.
He and his wife Dorothy had flown out to the Spanish beach resort with their daughter-in-law for a “much-needed break”.
However upon their arrival, the trio were informed that it was only a “skeleton staff” at the hotel due to low occupancy, with David later discovering a fan in his room that was noisy and leaking water.
He later experienced confusion, a productive cough, shortness of breath, kidney pains, diarrhoea and vomiting.
And when he finally made it back to England, he was rushed to hospital in an ambulance, where he was put into a coma for a month.
David said he has been suffering long-term health issues since the holiday and has instructed a legal team to investigate how his illness had “changed his life”.
He said: “This holiday was meant to be a much-needed break after what had been a difficult time during lockdown. However it turned into a nightmare.
"My family were scared that I wouldn’t survive. It saddens me that they were put through such an ordeal while I was in a coma."
David set off for the the two-week getaway at the four-star Hotel Presidente in Benidorm on July 21, 2020, which was booked through Jet2 Holidays.
But he became unwell during the second week of his trip, after he claims he noticed that the air conditioning unit in his room was noisy and dripped fluid.
Jennifer Hodgson, the specialist