Brit holidaymaker who scraped his toe on hotel swimming pool during dream break forced to have half his foot amputated as infection set in
Stewart Vine has said he can no longer work
A BRITISH tourist has been told he could lose his entire foot after suffering from a minor scrape at the bottom of a Caribbean hotel pool.
Stewart Vine has already had his little toe and the side of his left foot amputated which has forced him to give up work as a finance manager.
Five months on and Stewart has been fitted with an inflatable boot because the wound has still not healed and he may need to have his entire foot removed.
The 55-year-old was on a £2,500 week-long British Airways package to Antigua with wife Sarah when the incident happened.
Three days into the holiday he cut his foot on a sharp object in the bottom of the pool at the three-star Jolly Beach Hotel.
Stewart, from Cullercoats, North Tyneside, said: "I was in the pool and cut my foot on something. I thought it was very innocent.
"I never found out what it was but I know it was sharp on the bottom of the pool.
"I got out of the pool and didn't think it was that serious. It was just a scrape, it wasn't a deep cut. It was fairly innocuous."
Stewart put antiseptic cream on the open wound and thought nothing more of it.
Two days later he came down with a fever during a romantic meal with Sarah and returned to their hotel room where he collapsed.
He thought he was suffering from sun stroke.
Despite his condition Stewart said he felt well enough to board the 8pm flight home two days later and took some paracetamol to ease the pain.
He said: "The flight took off and within an house I was feeling very ill and began to vomit.
"My wife tells me that she awoke and saw me making jerking movements as though I was having some sort of seizure.
"I was babbling but not making sense and having rigors. My wife is a nurse and she thought I was going to die."
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The couple say Stewart had to be given oxygen during the flight and medical equipment indicated he had a major infection.
When they landed at Gatwick Airport, Sarah drove the couple back to the North East but after being delayed by traffic, she diverted to Leicester Royal Hospital.
Stewart was checked and let go on the condition he went straight to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle-upon-Tyne which he did.
That hospital transferred him to Newcastle's Freeman Hospital where doctors said they had no option but amputate his little toe and part of his left foot.
Stewart added: "I've now lost my job through all this. The doctors were saying that I should have six months off but I just could not do that.
"The experience has affected us massively and we don't want to fly anymore. There is still a chance I could lose my foot."
Sarah, who has a daughter called Holly, 19, said: "We have always loved our holidays, that's what we work so hard for but I feel like we have had that taken away from us.
"It was like watching my husband thinking he could die. The infection levels in his body were massive.
"It was a holiday to go away and just enjoy being together in the sun. It has affected us massively."
The couple are now planning to take legal action.
British Airways said: "We are very sorry to hear that Mr Vine has been so unwell following his injury and are speaking to him while we investigate his concerns."
The Jolly Beach Hotel did not respond to a request for comment.
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