Maryland woman to return to U.S. after stroke leaves her stuck in a Panama hospital

A Maryland woman is set to return to the U.S. Sunday in a medevac after she got stuck in Panama after a medical emergency, according to an online fundraiser. 

Kalin Rytina, from Carroll County, suffered a stroke while on vacation, and was in the hospital for over a week, with medical costs piling up, her family told WJZ on Monday. 

"It has been incredibly difficult to watch someone so strong, independent, and full of life face something like this," the family said in an online fundraiser. "Anyone who knows Kalin knows her resilience, her compassion, her sense of humor, and her ability to light up a room. She is dependable, charismatic, caring, and endlessly supportive of the people around her."

Suffering from a stroke on vacation

Rytina's father, Mike Rytina, said she started to get nauseous and disoriented at the end of her trip to Guatemala. When Rytina began her trip home, stopping in Panama, her symptoms got worse, and she had to be hospitalized. 

"They told her she had two blood clots in her arteries, in the back of her neck, going to the brain. That ended up causing a stroke," Mike Rytina said.

Rytina was in the ICU for five days before she was moved to a private room. Her father and sister flew to Panama to be with her. 

"She likely will require intensive rehabilitation to relearn skills that were impacted from her stroke," the family said in an online fundraiser. 

Effort to get Rytina home

Mike Rytina said he reached out to the U.S. Embassy in Panama for help. He said doctors recommended that his daughter be taken to a hospital in Houston, Texas, or Miami, Florida, due to concerns about a long flight to the Baltimore area. 

According to Rytina's family, the hospital in Panama has not accepted their health insurance, so medical costs are being paid out-of-pocket, so far totalling $45,000. 

As of Thursday, an online fundraiser for the family has raised more than $35,700. 

In an update on Wednesday, the family said Rytina continues to make progress each day and is able to sit up and move around. She was even able to watch a little of the World Cup. 

"Her latest scans show that the brain swelling has slightly decreased, and there are still no signs of hemorrhage or hydrocephalus," the family said in the fundraiser.