A holidaymaker has vowed never to forget travel insurance again – after she had to fork out £5,500 when she suffered an ectopic pregnancy while in Mykonos.
Jessica Walker and her partner Daniel Atkins jetted off to the Greek island for a five-day holiday on May 28.
The 28-year-old said she thought she was on her period but realised something was wrong when the blood changed to ‘clots’ and she began projectile vomiting on the second day of the holiday.
The couple called a doctor to their hotel the next morning who reportedly advised Jessica to go to the medical centre, where she was given a pregnancy test.
She was shocked to find she was pregnant and that she was having an ectopic pregnancy.
An ectopic pregnancy is when a fertilised egg is outside of the womb, usually in one of the fallopian tubes.
Jessica was then blue-lighted to the airport and boarded the first flight to Athens, rushing to the Elena Venizelou Maternity Hospital.
The full-time carer said she had keyhole surgery the same day to remove the fallopian tube and woke up in ‘agonising’ pain.
Jessica Walker was on holiday in Greece when she suffered from ‘clots’ and projectile vomiting
She was taken to hospital – where she found out she had an ectopic pregnancy
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While the couple paid £1,400 for their holiday, they had to additionally pay around £5,500 for medical bills and flights due to not having insurance.
Jessica was released from hospital three days later and arrived home on June 4.
Jessica, from Abercynon, Wales, said: ‘I was on my period and it was like a normal period. I said to my partner that I’m so bloated, I looked about six months pregnant.
‘I knew something wasn’t right. On Thursday I was a bit off. On the next day I was keeled over, projectile vomiting everywhere.
‘The sweat was dripping off me and I thought I was having a reaction to something. I was having big blood clots coming out so I knew something wasn’t right.
‘The following morning, I couldn’t even look at the breakfast food. My partner said we needed to ring the doctors.
‘A doctor came to my hotel and said they needed to get me down to the clinic. They gave me a pregnancy test and it came out positive.
‘I have a seven-month-old so we weren’t planning on getting pregnant. It wasn’t on our 2026 bingo card.
The pair already have a seven-month-old, and hadn’t planned a pregnancy
Jessica, 28, was taken to Athens to hospital, where she was screaming in pain
‘They couldn’t find anything on the internal scan and they said this is an ectopic pregnancy. They said ‘we need to get you to Athens straight away because you’re bleeding internally’.
‘They blue lighted us straight to the airport and got us on the next flight. They took my blood and said this was urgent and I had to decide whether to get surgery straight away.’
Jessica said she feared for her life after waking up from the operation and felt like she had been ‘hit by a bus’.
Jessica said: ‘I was screaming for ages because I was in so much pain. There was the language barrier, no one knew why I was crying.
‘All I remember is going to sleep and being in agony when I woke up. They stopped the pregnancy and removed the fallopian tube on my right side.
‘When I woke up, I had a bag attached to me to get rid of all the fluids. I can’t even remember a lot.
‘They couldn’t tell me how far gone I was because they couldn’t find the sac. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. The day after my surgery I thought I would die. I thought I would get an infection and die.
‘It’s like having a period but ten times worse. You can’t stand up straight, can’t move, have a fever. Feels like you’re hit by a bus.’
For the clinic, hospital and flights, the couple had to pay £5,500 as they did not have travel insurance
The mum vowed to never travel without insurance and said she will never be that ‘stupid’ again.
She says the hospital bill alone would have been €6,800 (£5,888) but her partner called the British embassy and ‘within ten minutes’ the hospital bill decreased to €650 (£562) instead.
However for the clinic, the hospital, the flights to Athens and from Athens to London, the final amount the couple had to pay was £5,500.
Jessica is currently on blood thinners and antibiotics, recovering from her surgery.
Jessica said: ‘I thought I had insurance with my bank but I didn’t. I will never be that stupid ever again, I don’t know why I didn’t think.
‘I go away quite often and it wouldn’t get into my mind something like that would happen to me in a million years. I burst into tears, when you’re in a foreign country you panic when you’re not around your family.
‘I had to go to my doctors and they just checked me over and took my blood. I’m on antibiotics and blood thinners. We were looking forward to having some time together. We won’t be going away for a while.’
