A BRITISH tourist has died on holiday as his family has been stung with a £59,000 bill after he failed to declare an issue his GP told him “not to worry about”.
Alan Kirkby, 67, from Marston Magna, Somerset, was away in Greece when he was tragically struck with septic shock – a life-threatening condition that causes your blood pressure to drop.
After suffering from a pain in his side and waking up breathless, the car valeter was advised to return to the UK for a biopsy on a mass in his lung local doctors feared might be cancer.
But before he could get home, his condition worsened and he was airlifted to a private hospital where he was put on a ventilator.
He was later placed in a medically-induced coma, which he tragically never woke up from.
His devastated family shared the news of his death on a GoFund me page, where they also revealed the multi-thousand pound hospital bill they’ve since been stung with.
They said Alan hadn’t declared the mass on his lung, which doctors had previously reassured him “not to worry about”.
As an undeclared pre-existing medical condition, his insurance cover was invalidated landing him with a staggering £14,000 bill.
Alan had been three days into a family holiday in Zante with his partner Helen Whitemore, 62, Liza and her three daughters when he fell ill on July 5.
He had an aching pain all down his side during dinner, which he thought was from throwing his stepdaughter’s children around in the sea.
The next morning he woke up breathless and went to a local medical clinic.
After tests, doctors advised he return to the UK for a biopsy on a mass spotted in his right lung.
But before they could leave, Alan deteriorated. His oxygen levels dropped to 36 per cent and he began fitting in his hospital bed.
Doctors placed him on a non-invasive ventilator.
Liza said: “He looked dreadful, grey and pale. Everyone was petrified. Nobody knew what was going on.”
Alan was airlifted by helicopter to a private hospital in Athens because he was too sick to fly commercially.
Hospital officials called his insurance company who disclosed Alan was aware of the lung mass, detected in December 2024 – something he says British doctors deemed to be a benign fatty tissue, and told him not to worry about.
That made it a “pre-existing condition” – something the family hadn’t declared, because it was thought to be harmless.
Liza said: “We know we’ve made the mistake, that’s the problem.
“My mum had gone into the bank that she had insurance with and they said, ‘just go on holiday, you don’t have to do anything’.
“They didn’t know about the mass. And he was well before, he was working as a car valeter the day before the holiday.”
Alan was then moved to a general hospital where treatment is covered by his Global Health Insurance Card.
This is a free UK card that lets travellers access state healthcare in EU countries on the same terms as locals.
But it doesn’t cover private hospitals or the cost of getting home, such as an air ambulance.
His family had raised £9500 in hopes of being able to fly him back to the UK, but sadly did not reach the target goal before his passing.
The money raised through the appeal will now go towards his cremation.
Alan was too ill to be flown home[/caption]