Vancouver family working to get mom home from Portugal after hospitalization
By Chandler Watkins
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VANCOUVER, Washington (KPTV) — A Vancouver family’s worst nightmare has become a reality after their mom flew to Europe for a once in a lifetime vacation, and within 24 hours of landing, she suffered a brain injury and went into a come.
Megan Kunze says she and her family wished her mom safe travels and a fantastic trip as she left PDX for a three-week vacation in Portugal.
“Twenty-four hours after landing she suffered a subdural hematoma,” said Kunze. “The next morning she woke up, still had the headache, but she didn’t want to waste any of her time. She went to an art class in the park and she lost consciousness there. She ended up in Braga, Portugal and she underwent an emergency craniotomy where they removed a section of her skull, to allow her brain to reduce swelling and pressure. She’s been in a coma ever since.”
After Kunze got the call telling her what happened, she and her brother quickly packed and flew to be with their mom.
“This was our biggest fear sending our 71-year-old mother across the sea,” said Kunze. “To have that nightmare come to fruition in such a short amount of time, let alone at all, was the worst. She’s slowly waking up. She’s started to open her eyes, started to move her feet. She’s gripped our hands. She’s making very small steps. Brain injuries are very difficult to predict.”
Kunze describes her mom as strong, sassy and kind. The type of person who will always help others, but won’t ask for it herself.
“She’s had a lot of hardships her whole entire life,” said Kunze. “She’s raised two children on her own, working three to four jobs trying to put a roof over our heads. She’s full of laughter and fun times and she’s an amazing grandmother and just an amazing person. I know that we are kind of biased because she is our mother, but she is an incredible human. She will never ask for help, but unfortunately, this is a time for us that we need. We need help to get her home.”
After receiving little help from the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon, they started a GoFundMe to get their mom home.
“My mom worked very hard,” said Kunze. “She was a City of Vancouver employee. She’s a saver, but she still doesn’t have a lot of money. We don’t have a lot of financial means to bring her home so we don’t have a lot of options other than putting the GoFundMe out and hoping it helps us offset some of that $225,000 to get her home.”
She says as others gear up to travel this summer, she stresses the importance of getting travel insurance: something she believes would have covered getting her mom home if they had gotten it.
“We are not international travelers, we have never left the country until now, and had we known travel insurance was a thing I definitely would have made sure to get that for her,” said Kunze. “I made sure to get wheelchair assistance at all the airports she was traveling to. I thought I did all the things to help her and keep her safe, but unfortunately, I failed her in this regard because I didn’t know. I don’t want anybody else to be in our situation if they can avoid it. My brother and I now both have travel insurance because we don’t want to be without it. It was a very small cost. It was $140 for both of us for a month. It’s a very marginal detail but it’s important.”
She says as her mom continues to recover, they will remain by her side.
“We are going to be here until we can bring her home,” said Kunze. “We do not have a return ticket yet. Brain injuries are very difficult to predict. They just take a lot of time and it’s an unpredictable amount of time so we are here indefinitely until we can get her home.”
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