Sick gran fights for life in Tokyo

Janet Rylance collapsed as she was heading home from an emotional visit to relatives in Australia.

Today Japanese doctors gave her only a 50 per cent chance of survival.

The mother-of-six's nightmare began when she made an overnight stop in Tokyo.

Mrs Rylance, 55, complained of pains in her head. Within hours she was rushed to a local hospital where tests showed her to be suffering from three blood clots on her brain - one of which had burst.

Back in Bradford, the first Mrs Rylance's family heard of the drama was via a fax message from surgeons at the Narita Red Cross Hospital asking for permission to carry out an emergency operation.

Her son-in-law David Blamires, 41, said: "It came totally out of the blue. We just couldn't believe it. Janet had gone out to visit her dad and brother in mid-January and all the children and grandchildren were looking forward to her coming back."

Mr Blamires is a church warden at Buttershaw's St Aidan's Church with his wife Dawn.

Mrs Rylance, who is also a great grandmother, was due back to her Wibsey home on Saturday but fell ill on Thursday.

Although Friday's operation appears to have been successful, doctors have only given Mrs Rylance a 50 per cent chance of survival.

Mr Blamires, of Speeton Avenue, Horton Bank Top, said: "After giving permission for the operation, the first thing we thought was that somebody needed to be out there for her. It was bad enough this happening at all but for it to happen in a strange land was just terrible."

"We are not a wealthy family but everyone put together what they had - holiday money, a bit of savings, anything we had."

Enough cash was collected to send Mrs Rylance's eldest daughter Susan Bailey out to Japan.

Speaking from Narita, two hours journey from Tokyo, Mrs Bailey, 37, said: "It's very frightening being in a strange country all alone. It's a long way from home. I really miss my family and my husband.

"There are not a lot of people who speak English here so you can't communicate with anyone which can be quite scary. There's only one nurse in the hospital who speaks English so if she's not there it can be quite hard explaining why I'm there. The people here have been very friendly and it's very clean but everything's very expensive.

"It's awful seeing my mum in bandages. I couldn't stop crying for the first two days that I saw her. She has had her head shaved, is on a respirator and had four or five drips in her. She is also strapped to the bed so she doesn't knock these out.

"She's awake today but she's very disconcerted."

Mrs Bailey said doctors believe it will be two weeks before they know if any long term damage has been caused - and it will be at least another fortnight before she can be released.

Mrs Rylance's condition remains critical in the hospital's intensive care unit today.

Mother-of-two Mrs Bailey(from Hornsey) said: "When she did come round she recognised me but didn't know where she was or what was going on. I am staying at her bedside every moment I can but this is limited because of her being in intensive care."

She said the hospital - which has just one English speaking nurse - has asked for a relative to stay with Mrs Rylance to provide "emotional support and to help bridge the language barrier".

But it is costing the family around £100 a day in hotel bills, travel, food and other costs such as telephone calls to Britain to keep Mrs Bailey there.

Mr Blamires said: "We feel it is vital to have someone there for her but the money is set to run out. We are in a terrible situation."

The family had a glimmer of hope yesterday after the stand-in vicar St Aidan's, Cannon David Bruno, arranged a week of free accommodation through contacts in the Japanese church.

Cannon Bruno, the bishop's pastoral assistant, said he had called upon a contact he met there while visiting the country in 1985. "I am just glad that some good has come of it," he said.

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