An Irish man who suffered a stroke while swimming in Greece has died after spending nearly four months in hospital.
Jonathan Tobin (42) had been in critical condition in a Cretan hospital since the accident last July.
Mr Tobin from Youghal, County Cork, has been admitted to Heraklion University Hospital in Crete since the July 29 tragedy.
He had lived in Crete for twelve months before the tragedy occurred.
A special Go Fund me page has been created to bring you home.
However, Labour TD for Cork East Sean Sherlock subsequently raised the issue in the Dail.
This brought him home by air ambulance last month, courtesy of the government’s overseas treatment regime.
Tobin died peacefully at Cork University Hospital on Tuesday night.
He leaves his parents Margaret (Mag) and Shane and his two brothers Ryan and Aaron.
The funeral is still being finalised.
On October 26, his mother posted on social media that she was delighted to have arranged an air ambulance for her son to fly home from Crete to Cork.
“Whatever happens our Jonathan is coming home where he belongs. We could not have done it without each and every single person who helped in any way,” she posted, reports Independent.
In a Facebook post, a family friend said he received “a lot of comfort and consolation that family and friends got to spend a little bit of time with him (Jonathan) and that he passed away here in Ireland surrounded by loved ones. It’s been a long road since July but he is at his final resting place, no more suffering. His heart was strong till the very end and that just reflected on the person he was. To all those who helped along the way — huge thank you. Arrangements will follow,” reports Independent.
Meanwhile, Mag Tobin gave an interview to Neil Prendeville’s show on Cork’s Red FM in early October in which she claimed to have received a call on July 30 informing her that his son had been found floating face down in the water.
“Seemingly he was there for about twelve minutes and there was a child (saw him) and told his dad and they dragged him out and gave him CPR on the beach for twenty minutes until the ambulance came. They took him to the local hospital that didn’t have the facilities for him, so they took him for two and a half hours to the Heraklion university hospital. No one saw him go into the water. The beach was full. They thought he was actually diving. He was on life support for six weeks. They did brain scans and MRIs and there is currently no brain activity. He is out of ICU. He is in a ward. We had been gone for 12 days when it happened and we came back yesterday. We have to take him home,” she said, reports Independent.
Mrs. Tobin said that her son could open and blink and could move his mouth a little.
She had talked to him for hours on end “without recognition.”
He had lived in England for four or five years before moving to Greece.
Mr Tobin stayed at home in Cork during the pandemic. She said doctors believed Jonathan had a stroke in the water.
“His mouth is a little lopsided so we think it was stroke,” reports Independent.
Mag said last October that she knew there was no chance of rehabilitation, but that she wanted her son to die in Ireland surrounded by his loving family.
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