A MAN is facing a bill of thousands of pounds to fly his partner home after she fell seriously ill on holiday.

Ray Lewry was distraught when Heather Maskell became sick during their trip to Mexico.

Then matters took a turn for the worse when he was told her travel insurance would not cover the cost of treatment.

Heather, 63, is currently receiving treatment for a chest infection in Cancun.

Ray, 62, who lives in Peacehaven, said: “The stress is just ridiculous, I can’t even put it into words.

“I’m in every day visiting her, I just want to bring my Heather home.

“I’m in absolute bits, I’m shaking, I would be lost without her.”

After Heather fell ill Ray contacted her sister Lindsey Webb through Facebook.

Lindsey said: “I paid for a flight out there straight away because I thought I was going to be bringing her back in a box.

“I was not ready to lose my sister.”

Lindsey, 57, also from Peacehaven, said: “They went on holiday and were there for a week as normal.

“Heather caught a cold which went to her chest.”

She became seriously ill and was treated in hospital.

Lindsey said her sister was improving and was able to move around using a wheelchair.

But her family now have to worry about insurance costs.

Lindsey said her insurance company, CEGA, had refused to pay because Heather did not declare a new asthma medication prescribed in 2017.

Heather has suffered from asthma and COPD, a condition in which airflow to the lungs is obstructed, but Lindsey said her insurance company was aware of this.

She said Heather made regular payments through her bank to CEGA.

Lindsey said: “She pays money into it every month.

“She is in her sixties, she is going to have pre-existing conditions.

“They asked her if her condition had changed and she said it had not.

“She was given this inhaler two and a half years ago.

“We have now got a bill of £135,000 with no method of paying it and it would cost another £85,000 to bring her home with Medevac.”

Lindsey’s daughter Sian has set up a GoFundMe page called Get Auntie Heather Home with a target of raising £135,000.

It had raised almost £2,000 by Tuesday evening.

The Argus asked CEGA for comment but the company had not responded by the time the paper went to print.