A WOMAN who was left fighting for her life and needing two months off work after she suffered severe kidney problems following a summer break to Egypt is taking legal action as she recovers from her illness.
Nicola Collings, from Solihull, travelled to the all-inclusive Siva Sharm Resort and Spa in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, in August 2014 but became ill with gastric symptoms on the day she landed at home and just two days later she was in hospital fighting for her life.
After having her appendix removed because of suspected appendicitis, blood tests revealed that Nicola was suffering from Haemolytic Uremic Syndrome and Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura – conditions which caused her blood to fail and her kidney function to go down.
Doctors at Heartlands Hospital said the 23-year-old was in a critical condition but after emergency dialysis and a blood transfusion she eventually pulled through.
Nicola, a hotel reception manager was in hospital for more than two weeks and needed further dialysis treatments and blood transfusions.
She said: “The months following my return to the UK were absolutely terrifying as doctors only gave me a small chance of surviving my condition.
“I’ve had to have so much time off and moved back in with my parents for two months during my illness so they could help look after me.
“Although I’m now back at work I’m often shaking and tired and I still don’t feel normal now ten months on.
“I’m lucky really that I don’t have to be on dialysis all my life but I shouldn’t be in this situation at all.
“I also have to be careful about my health as my immune system is not that great and so I tend to get ill easily.
“When you go on holiday you are supposed to come back feeling refreshed but I ended up fighting for my life. I’m desperate to know what caused my illness as there could be other people affected who might not be as lucky as I was in surviving my condition.”
She has instructed specialist international personal injury lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate the cause of her illness.
Nicola said that while staying at the hotel during her holiday in 2014 she was concerned to see on a number of instances how staff washed glasses in water with no cleaning products.
Nicola advised that it appeared that on occasions food was recycled at different meal times, as the same foods appeared on the menu at later sittings and food was sometimes served uncovered and luke warm and cutlery was dirty.
Nicola also reported that the pool area was sometimes dirty and the pool water was murky and told lawyers that she had heard others complaining about how dirty the pool was.
Amandeep Samra, an expert holiday illness lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, said: “We are currently investigating the exact cause of Nicola’s illness.
“It is extremely worrying to hear how severely ill Nicola became as a result of the illness she suffered.
“She has been through a traumatic experience and continues to suffer as a result of the illness she contracted.
“As we conduct our investigations we would urge anyone who stayed at the Siva Sharm Hotel and who may be able to provide information about the conditions there to get in contact with us as soon as possible.”
