GA grandmother on her way home after getting sick on cruise ship, being stuck in Dominican Republic

TROUP COUNTY, Ga. — It’s was all hands on deck to get a LaGrange grandmother back to the U.S. where doctors can try to save her life.

Channel 2′s Courtney Francisco was in LaGrange Thursday, where Loretta Cox and her husband left Saturday and caught a cruise ship in Florida on Sunday. The mother of six, who also has nine grandchildren, decided to take some time off for a cruise to the Bahamas.

By Tuesday, her lungs had filled with fluid and she was so sick she had to be placed on a ventilator and was stuck in the Dominican Republic where she was being treated.

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After Francisco’s story aired on Channel 2 Action News at 6 p.m., the family said they were able to raise $18,000 and were able to get Cox on a medical flight.

She is expected to land in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on early Friday morning.

Cox remains in a coma and on a ventilator.

The flight had to fly at a lower altitude to avoid pressure issues due to her being on a ventilator.

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Her family said they paid nearly $28,000 to transport her via ambulance to the hospital and then get her into a room in the Intensive Care Unit.

But her family said doctors there cannot treat Cox because they don’t take her insurance and without it, staying in that hospital costs $4,000 a day.

Doctors in the Dominican Republic said that they could keep Cox stable, but that she needed to get a special medical flight back to the U.S. for treatment.

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