Brit who needed brain surgery after falling ill on holiday could spend months in Spanish hospital

A Brit who needed emergency brain surgery after falling ill on holiday could spend months in a Spanish hospital recovering due to the seriousness of her condition. Millie Jackson had jetted off to sunny Malaga with her boyfriend when she became unwell and was rushed to hospital on June 13.

The 20-year-old is currently in intensive care and has been told she will have to remain there for the foreseeable future while she recovers, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Millie, from Ystrad Rhondda in Wales, has a rare genetic condition called von Hippel-Lindau disease which causes benign cysts and tumours to grow in parts of the body. The condition runs in her family with Millie's mum and uncle also living with the condition.

Millie was tested for and diagnosed with the condition at the age of six and as a result has routine MRIs and doctors appointments back home. She was due to undergo surgery to remove a tumour from her brain in July and was told she was fit to fly as she wanted to take some time on holiday to relax and enjoy herself ahead of her operation.

Devastated mum Suzy Jackson, said: "They've done her scans and they said she's not safe to fly because she was dizzy, being sick, she couldn't walk. She was really, really ill with it. So they've done the emergency brain surgery to remove the tumour on the cerebellum."

"She woke up all right. The tumour was removed. Everything was all right the Monday afternoon [when she had the surgery]. On the Tuesday, when her partner had gone to the hospital, he was told she was in critical care, took a turn for the worse, she had swelling on the brain and a build-up of fluid."

Doctors in Spain called Suzy to update her on her daughter's condition. However, Suzy is also scheduled to have a tumour removed from the same part of her brain with that operation due to take place on Thursday, June 27.

With Millie being so unwell in Spain, Suzy had no other choice but to fly to be with her daughter. Millie has been under sedation for the most part since and is on a high dose of antibiotics to fight an infection that she has developed.

The plan is for a second surgery to be performed to drain the fluid build-up on her brain once the course of antibiotics is complete. Millie's breathing has been supported by a tube in her throat throughout this time but doctors were able to perform a tracheostomy which should allow Millie more awake time through her recovery.

Suzy was able to see Millie awake before she flew home on Tuesday, though Millie's throat was too swollen to be able to speak. The mum explained: "When I got there they had managed to wake her up. She can't talk because of the swelling in her mouth but she was mouthing things.

"She was trying to speak sign language because she works in a school and she knows sign language but we don't speak sign. So I could see the frustration on her face. But she could mouth 'I love you' and that she was in a lot of pain."

Millie has been put in a private room in the ICU ward in the Spanish hospital as she will likely be there for the foreseeable while she recovers.

Suzy has had to return home to undergo her own operation but hopes to get back out to her daughter as soon as possible. In the meantime Millie's boyfriend Cameron plans to stay in Spain to be close to Millie.

Her loved ones are grateful her medical care is being covered by the UK Global Health Insurance Card, but have set up a fundraiser to support the costs for Cameron to stay by her side until she can fly home.

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