British father who needs amputations stuck in Spanish hospital
A British father who is facing a triple amputation after developing a rare disease on holiday has been stuck in hospital for a month in Spain - as there were not enough beds for him in the UK.
Matthew Parkes, 38, and his wife, Pamela, 39, were on holiday with their daughter Sophia, four, when Matthew came down with a sore throat.
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However, he then developed pneumonia, organ failure and septic shock, and lost a lung.
He is being treated at a private hospital in Palma, where he has been diagnosed with Castleman Disease, a rare lymph node condition that meant Matthew could not fight off the throat infection.
The disease affects the body in a similar way to cancer, and has led to tumours in his collar bone, chest, spine and pancreas, and he will need chemotherapy.
Matthew is waiting to be transferred to Wythenshawe hospital, whose intensive care unit is currently full, reports the Daily Mail.
Pamela, says a glitch in the NHS system means that, because Wythenshawe has accepted them, they cannot apply to get in elsewhere.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Pamela said Matthew's feet turned black as a result of medication given to keep his organs working.
She said: "They were dead and freezing cold, they said it was the drugs to keep his organs working. Now they need amputating."
Pamela added: "Last time he was awake he said he loved me and he thought he just had pneumonia - if he wakes up the best case scenario is he's told he is going to be disabled for the rest of his life.
"The worst case is that he doesn't have long left. I can't live without him.
"We just need to get him home, Wythenshawe need to find him a bed so he can be treated at home where his family is."
Speaking to the Mirror, Pamela continued: "They are only keeping him in a coma for the journey back to the UK. His feet and hand are totally shrivelled and look like charcoal and could snap off. When he wakes up he is going to be very shocked.
"I need to be there to explain to him that he is not on holiday anymore. I need to say: 'You have been in a coma. You have one lung, you need these amputations and your body is full of tumours'."
Pamela has reportedly now taken to Facebook to say a hospital bed has been found for her husband at Wythenshawe, and he will be taken by air ambulance while still in an induced coma.
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