A NEWPORT family is battling to bring a seriously ill woman home from the Canary Islands after a holiday turned into a nightmare.

Lisa Jarvis, who has epilepsy and asthma, was on the second day of a week-long holiday with husband Andrew and daughters Jade, seven, Lauren, six, and Caitlin, five, when she suffered a fit.

She has spent the last two weeks in hospital on Fuerteventura with doctors fighting to stabilise her condition. Her family was initially told it would cost £14,000 to bring her home as she did not have insurance to cover her epilepsy due to a misunderstanding over a policy and a medical assessment.

That appears to have been sorted out, but after improving, the 28-year-old's condition has worsened again and she is on a ventilator in intensive care.

Her return to Wales is the subject of disagreement between the firm charged by her insurers with arranging to bring her home, and local doctors.

"The hospital is prepared to release her, but the doctors who would come home with her say it's too much of a risk," said Mrs Jarvis' mother Jennifer Knock, of Gainsborough Drive, St Julian's.

"She has severe epilepsy and this is the first time she's been abroad. They flew out on June 8, the next day she had a fit and since then it's been a nightmare.

"There was confusion about her insurance and a medical assessment before she went, and the company said she wasn't covered.

"I finally managed to speak to the underwriter who agreed to re-instate the policy given the circumstances, but now she's not well again and we don't know what's happening from one day to the next.

"They're talking about transferring her to hospital in Las Palmas (on the neighbouring island of Gran Canaria).

"Andrew is having trouble finding accommodation there because it's very busy so it would mean him flying between islands to see her. There's also the language problem.

"The insurance money won't be sorted out yet, and I've had to keep sending Andrew money to keep him going. The girls are used to their mum being unwell sometimes, but they're really missing her and their dad."