It was speculated to be a joyful family reunion, but as an alternative a British Columbia grandmother is stranded in China in a coma, her family unable to pay the lots of of 1000’s of dollars to bring her home via air ambulance.
Her family says Lilia Avoutova, 78, who’s of mixed Chinese and Ukrainian heritage, arrived in Kunming on March 4.
But she and her 79-year-old husband, Savout, each from Burnaby, B.C., never made it to Avoutova’s birthplace of Xinjiang, an autonomous territory in northwest China, after she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and stroke two days later.
Daughter Elena Lanteigne said her mother has been in an induced coma in a Kunming hospital since March 8.
“It was really tough, so the reunion never happened,” said a tearful Lanteigne, speaking from Kunming where she and her brother have been for about three weeks.
“It’s really tough to see your beloved in a hospital bed and intubated with all these instruments around them, and never knowing how they’re doing and in the event that they’re going to survive and in the event that they’re going to do well,” said Lanteigne, wiping away tears on a video call.
She said her mother had lived in China until she was about 10 when Avoutova’s father’s farm was confiscated by the federal government.
The family moved to Kazakhstan, where Avoutova married and had her children, before the family moved to Canada about 30 years ago.
Lanteigne said her mother had reconnected along with her relatives in China up to now 10 years and hoped to see them on what she expected to be her last visit to her hometown.
Communicating with doctors has been “extremely difficult” in China resulting from the language barriers, Lanteigne said, forcing them to depend on Google Translate to grasp her mom’s conditions.
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She said her parents didn’t buy any travel medical insurance, and now the ICU in China costs about $1,000 per day, which has change into a “heavy burden” for her.
Her retired parents live a “very frugal” life, and so they are just about out of the cash at this point, she said.
“My brother and I actually have had some savings, and we’ve been in a position to dip into those, but that’s also began to expire,” she added.
Lanteigne said it’s “extremely stressful” to take into consideration funds, and so they still have to work out the massive expense of bringing her mom home.
Lanteigne said that they had got some quotes for getting a medical transport flight, which principally functions as an air ambulance equipped with a medical crew, in order that they will bring her mom home straight away, but the prices are about $400,000, which they will’t afford.
There may be another choice available — transporting her mom to Vancouver from Kunming by utilizing stretcher service on a business airline, and the prices can be around $108,800.
Nevertheless it’s riskier since Avoutova has a cerebral hemorrhage, and when the plane goes as much as a high altitude, it will probably place pressure on the brain, making it “quite dangerous,” said Lanteigne.
Lanteigne said her mom’s family doctor suggested the very best option straight away is to attend at the least a month or two, allowing the bleeding contained in the body to reabsorb, which might make it safer for her to travel.
Lanteigne said she is clinging to the hope that her mom can leave the ICU soon and move to the rehabilitation unit, allowing them to arrange to take her home in the following couple of months.
She said her mom is considered one of those individuals who could make friends with anyone, and wherever she goes, persons are naturally drawn to her.
“People wish to confer with her, get to know her. She’s just extremely friendly,” said Lanteigne, adding that her grandchildren fondly called her babushka, meaning grandmother in Ukrainian.
When people would visit Avoutova at her home, she would serve tea and feed them.
“If she doesn’t have anything in her house, which may be very rare, she’s going to run to the shop, and she’s going to find something in her cupboards,” said Lanteigne.
Although the past three weeks have been tough, Lanteigne said they did have some promising news days ago — her mom briefly opened her eyes and was in a position to move her hand a bit of bit.
“These days, I’ve been talking to her about individuals who’ve been reaching out, and just in order that she knows that folks are fascinated about her. Persons are aware of who she is, and there are individuals who wish to help,” said Lanteigne.
Avoutova can be a grandmother of 4 grandchildren, and Lanteigne said she has been playing audio and video recordings sent by her grandkids next to her bed, telling her that they will’t wait to see their beloved “babushka.”
Lanteigne said her mom showed her what kindness and compassion are, spending her life caring for others, and now she must discover a strategy to bring her home, regardless of how difficult the method can be.
The journey isn’t easy, but Lanteigne said she was touched by the overwhelming response she got from Canadians through an internet fundraising page.
“My friend suggested it, and I used to be like, it seems really awkward, asking people for money, asking strangers for help.”
However the GoFundMe page has raised greater than $16,000 as of Saturday, almost 70 per cent of the goal.
“I’m just blown away. I’m really shocked, so surprised by the sheer volume of the individuals who have come out to assist,” said Lanteigne.
“And I actually appreciate that. I believe it’s just been incredible, and it just shows the incredible human spirit that folks have for one another. That’s so heartwarming, I can’t even put it into words. It’s been amazing to see that.”