ATLANTA — A metro Atlanta grandmother who got sick on a cruise ship and was stranded in the Dominican Republic is awake and talking about her ordeal.
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Loretta Cox, a mother of six and grandmother of 9, was on a cruise vacation to the Bahamas earlier this month when she suddenly found herself unable to breathe. She was put on a ventilator on the cruise and then dropped off at a hospital in the Dominican Republic.
Doctors there said they couldn’t take her American insurance.
That’s when her daughter, Aldes Brooks, reached out to Channel 2′s Courtney Francisco.
After Francisco reported on how the family was trying to raise $23,000 for an air ambulance back to the U.S., the donations came pouring in. Within days, the family was able to afford the flight and have Cox transferred to a hospital in Florida, where the family learned that Cox’s lungs had collapsed. She remained sedated and on a ventilator until Tuesday.
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“This is the first day that she’s kind of herself,” Aldes Brooks told Francisco from a hospital room Thursday. Both women had big smiles on their faces. “It’s been a long week and a half. Thank you to everybody. This wouldn’t have been possible without you, Courtney. I’m forever grateful.”
Cox is getting her sense of humor back, reading reports that she is a 54-year-old grandmother of 10.
“She said, ‘Wow, I died and actually came back younger,’” Brooks said.
Brooks is actually 61, not 54 like her daughters first told Francisco.
“She been lying so long about her age her own kids don’t even know how old she is,” her daughter joked.
“My sister said, ‘That ain’t fair! You younger than me!” Cox said.
Cox said she’s not sure if she ever would have woken up if it wasn’t from donations from Channel 2 Action News viewers.
“It’s just a blessing in itself to just have so many people that love you like that -- and you don’t even know them -- and reaching out and still concerned and still praying,” Cox said.
Brooks said she talked to staff members who said they aren’t the only family who has had to quickly raise thousands of dollars to get someone to the U.S. hospital from out of the country.
“People just aint got money to throw away like that,” Cox said.
Cox still has a long road ahead. Doctors think she may be able to come home to LaGrange next week, but hotel stays and food is stacking up on top of medical bills.
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