Rare disease paralyzes Novosibirsk man during Thailand vacation

Yevgeny, a resident of Novosibirsk, was paralyzed while on vacation in Thailand. Local doctors diagnosed him with Guillain-Barre syndrome — a rare disease that completely immobilizes a person. Now his wife Olga is dealing with the issue of transporting him.

In her Instagram* account, she said that in late January, Yevgeny«s arms and legs became paralyzed within a day, although he had been healthy before. She added that the Siberian man has already undergone a course of immunoglobulin treatment. Ahead of him is another stage — recovery, which could take up to six months.

«We need to somehow bring him back to Russia when the acute phase of the disease subsides. To say how hard it is for me is to say nothing. Sometimes the pain inside is such that I want to scream from helplessness,» writes the Siberian woman.

According to the woman, documents for transportation need to be prepared at least 72 hours before the flight. They have already been issued a flight voucher; the cost of transporting a bedridden patient is about 900,000 rubles (approximately $10,000 at current rates). By January 30, they had managed to raise 450,000 rubles (around $5,000 at current rates). It is also necessary to pay for the hospital stay — about a thousand dollars per day.

Later, a new problem arose: one of the airlines refused their booking without explanation. The insurance company said that immunoglobulin is not on the list of covered medications and they will have to pay for everything themselves — 1.5 million rubles (about $16,500 at current rates). Moreover, the insurance company told Olga that they can no longer pay for Yevgeny«s stay in the clinic since the doctor has approved his discharge and flight — as confirmation, she published a screenshot of the correspondence.

«Someday we will remember this as a nightmare. But now this hell doesn»t end for a minute. I just want to wake up and for all of this to not have happened,« shares the Siberian woman.

Now the family has two paths: either to find money themselves and return home, or to use the collected funds for rehabilitation in Thailand.

According to the latest post, they are to be discharged from the hospital on January 31, with the nearest direct flight from Phuket to Novosibirsk on February 8. The woman has contacted the Russian Embassy in Thailand and the Ministry of Health.

NGS attempted to contact Olga. At the time of publication, she had not responded. The editorial office also sent inquiries to the embassy, the Ministry of Health, and the insurance company. As soon as a response is received, the material will be updated.

* The activities of Meta Platforms, Inc. in implementing products — social networks Facebook and Instagram — are recognized as extremist and prohibited on the territory of Russia.

Earlier, NGS wrote that in Novosibirsk, a girl scratched her cornea. After some time, it had to be removed.