The family of an Angus girl who was left in a coma after a Spanish holiday tragedy hope she will be able to come home next year.
Cally Simpson is now recovering in Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, after she almost drowned at a Salou pool in June.
She was in a coma for more than six weeks and stayed in a number of Spanish hospitals before flying back to Scotland for treatment in Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children.
Her grandmother, Liz Miller, has paid tribute to the Arbroath four-year-old’s spirit on the road to recovery, and the determination of her mother, Kate, and father, Steven Simpson, in getting her there.
“She’s done very well and we are looking forward to having her home,” said Liz, 61.
“But it is going to be a long-term recovery. Cally will be in the hospital this year but we hope she will be able to come home in the new year.
“She’ll definitely not go back to her old house as the bathroom and so on are upstairs. She’ll need wheelchair accessibility and everything and that’s where the fundraising will come in.”
A community campaign has raised thousands for the youngster and a raffle night and prize bingo will take place at the Black Abbot in Montrose on October 12.
Liz, who works in a newsagent’s shop on the town’s Ferry Street, has organised the night with friends Cindy Milne, Mandy Ritchie and Doc Masson.
“There’s a lot of fundraising going on in Arbroath but because I stay in Montrose I wanted to start something here,” she said.
“We’ve had a tremendous response to a request for raffle prizes I think I got 30 just over the last week.
“We’re trying to get as much support for Cally as we can, and obviously my daughter. She’s living there in a room at Ninewells and it’s been very hard for her.”
In June, Cally’s parents were told she was possibly brain-dead and Liz said there was debate among specialists over whether to continue her treatment.
She added: “When we managed to get Kate over to Barcelona they were speaking about turning off her machine but Kate was so determined she’s my girl.”
Cally had been visiting Salou with family when the accident happened. She was pulled unconscious from the swimming pool at Hotel Villamarina and was given CPR by a British doctor who was staying at the resort.
She could not breathe at all for at least 20 minutes before being taken to the nearby Joan XXIII Hospital, where she was revived. The youngster has continued to surprise medical staff with her resilience.
She began rehabilitation on the hospital’s neurological ward and is continuing to improve at Ninewells.