British dad in desperate race to save baby son's life after NHS delay treatment over birth in Turkey
A British man living in Turkey is racing to save his baby son's life after he was stalled in his efforts to bring his child into the country for crucial treatment.
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Adam Corin, 41, has been fighting for the last month to get his four-month-old son Maverick transported from Istanbul after he was diagnosed with genetic heart failure on December 28.
He was told that baby Mav, who was born in Turkey, only has days to live unless he is attached to a Berlin Heart Ventricular Assist Device (VAD), a machine used to support children in severe heart failure, either until recovery or until a heart transplant is possible.
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This device is not available in Turkey, but can be accessed at the Newcastle Freeman Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in the UK.
Adam believed it would be possible to get his son transferred into one of these hospitals via a referral from his local hospital, the Royal Bristol Infirmary, as he was born in Cornwall and still had a property and a travel agency that operated out of Bristol.
But he has been delayed for over a month after bosses continually refused the transfer because they were unsure about Maverick's eligibility for UK healthcare.
The NHS does not automatically cover babies born overseas to British parents.
Their eligibility depends on the parents' UK residency and immigration status and often requires specific applications or immigration permission for the child if they are not ordinarily a resident in the UK.
But Adam was still shocked to be initially refused by the NHS, as he had managed to get Mav a temporary British passport and forked out £38,000 for an air ambulance to fly him into the UK.
Adam even claims one Royal Bristol Infirmary official told him: "It's better that Maverick dies in Turkey, than in an ambulance in England."
"Even though I'm British, my parents are British. I have a British passport. I still pay tax and insurance, I'm not allowed to bring my son in for this life-saving treatment," he told LBC.
"I have a house and my company is based there. Apart from Maverick not being born in the UK, I think every single box has been ticked.
"My boy has a zero per cent chance of living if he stays in Turkey. He will not get a transplant here, nor is there a VAD here for Maverick."
On Thursday, the Royal Bristol Infirmary confirmed it had agreed to accept Maverick as a patient following an "urgent review".
Adam is now hoping to transport his son safely to the UK as quickly as possible, as he has been told by Turkish doctors that he has "five days top to live".
In order to do so, the air ambulance will have an ICU on board to keep the baby alive during the flight.
Adam moved out to Istanbul to live with his Turkish wife Eda, 30, five years ago and had split his time between the Mediterranean nation and the UK, where he operates his business from.
He has a long-term tourist visa in Turkey, which he has to renew every year, meaning he is not allowed to work in the country.
"I just live in Turkey more than I do in England. Our purpose was always to move back to England once our child was older," he said.
"We just thought we could do what we want to do. It would be best to her to be around her family here while I carried on working in my UK company.
"Unfortunately, I work UK time, so I am finishing very late at night-time, which is not ideal with a new family, but we thought it's best to be around our family."
Less than three weeks after the couple welcomed Maverick into the world, problems started to arise when their first born stopped eating.
He was soon rushed into the ICU of a Turkish hopsital.
"After two or three hours, they said, he's not good," Adam said.
"We had to put surgical overalls on to see him and we could only do so for five minutes. He looked completely different."
"They eventually told us Maverick had heart failure. Doctors said they could keep him in the ICU unit with the other premature babies, but they couldn't help him further."
After trying several other hospitals in Istanbul, they ended up in Koç University Hospital, one of the best in the country.
Three weeks later, Maverick started to get better and the couple were able to take him home with a list of medication "which was 2 pages long".
But on December 28, the baby went back into the ICU at Koç University Hospital, where they were told he had genetic heart failure.
Doctors at Koç informed the couple that a VAD was available at the Newcastle Freeman Hospital and GOSH, and Adam was initially confident that Bristol Royal would refer them.
"I appreciate that he needs to be stabilised first, has UK doctors and nurses to do their own reports, then to move on to the heart machine," he said.
"I said to my wife that he could be in Bristol for a few hours, or it could be a few weeks, as long as we're in England and we can get on that list to get the machine, my boy can survive."
In order to prove that Mav was eligible for UK treatment, Adam has spent the last three weeks sending over countless documents while sitting next to his son in the ICU.
"I sent them my bank statements. My mobile phone bill in England. I sent them my work details. They asked me to call up HMRC and ask them how long I've been paying insurance.
"They know all of this already. My business and personal accounts are in Bristol. I have a UK telephone number.
"it just seems they keep pushing us back. They want to keep spreading it out and don't want to take any responsibility for my son.
"I could have been one of those people who said f*** the UK, I live overseas, but I didn't. I appreciate my wife has different rules and regulations, but I have sacrificed everything to keep my house going in England.
"I don't think I could have done anything more to prove that."
While his wife has stayed at the hospital to provide breast milk for Mav in the ICU, Adam has travelled in from their home every day.
Explaining the impact this experience has had on their lives, Adam said: "I can't sleep because I keep waiting for emails from the NHS. it takes hours to get to and from the hospital in turkey and then back to our in-laws.
"I can only see my boy for one hour a day. I keep getting asked for more and details. I'm too tired and too emotional now to deal with this. I've been let down."
After announcing that Mav would be treated in the UK, Professor Tim Whittlestone, Chief Medical and Innovation Officer, Bristol NHS Group said: "Following an urgent review by a senior multi-disciplinary team, we have agreed to accept Maverick as a patient at UHBW.
"If he is able to travel safely, our teams will do everything they can to ensure he receives the best possible care. As at all times throughout this process, our thoughts are firmly with Maverick and his family.
"We understand the public interest in this case, but we must respect patient confidentiality and therefore cannot share any additional details or comment further."