Family desperately trying to get critically ill Massachusetts man home from Fiji: "Every hour counts"
The trip of a lifetime turned into a nightmare for a Holbrook, Massachusetts man after he fell critically ill, and now his family is trying desperately to fly him home from halfway across the world.
Scott Winslow is in intensive care at a hospital in Fiji. He was sailing with his nephew in the South Pacific on what was supposed to a three-month voyage when he noticed what appeared to be a bug bite.
His family isn't sure exactly what the cause of the illness is, but his condition quickly deteriorated and he could no longer walk once the boat arrived in Fiji.
"By the time they got to a doctor, he was so sick," his daughter Lisa Babbin told WBZ-TV.
Winslow has been on a ventilator and is now battling septic shock, with organ failure and a spreading infection. Babbin said the doctors are doing everything they can, but he needs more care than the hospital can manage and time is not on their side.
"Every hour counts for my father," she said.
The family has secured a bed at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, but the problem is getting him there from Fiji. A special flight to get Winslow back to Boston could cost as much as $250,000.
"All we need is a medflight, that's the only thing we need to get him home," Babbin said. "Medflights are not cheap."
The family has set up an online fundraiser and they've raised about $19,000 so far. They've also applied for an emergency U.S. government loan for the medical evacuation, but are still waiting to find out if it will be approved.
WBZ-TV has reached out to the elected officials who represent Holbrook - Congressman Stephen Lynch and senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey - but we have not heard back.
