Angela Carley underwent spinal surgery. Before she left to go home to Wexford Angela told us this:

“I had been suffering with back pain for years. I would get sciatica and then it would eventually ease. “But two years ago the sciatica pain came and this time it didn’t go away. I was in excruciating pain, sheer agony.

“My MRIs showed I needed spinal fusion surgery and I was told I’d get my operation at a hospital in Dublin. “Three times I was pencilled in for surgery and on all three occasions my surgery was cancelled. On the last occasion I was already at the preoperative stage. “I was devastated. I didn’t know what to do. “Thankfully I came across Healthcare Abroad on Facebook and began reading all the incredible reviews. It all felt right and I called them. “Then it felt right every step of the way after that. It reminded me of building your own house, with Healthcare Abroad doing everything for you, step by step and at the right time.

“We were met in Alicante as promised and taken to our hotel in Benidorm. On the day if the pre-ops at the HCB Hospital Scott was there from Healthcare Abroad to help. He told me where to sit and I thought I’d be waiting for hours. I had barely sat down when I was called. The service was incredible. I’d had a load of tests done in less than 90 minutes. “Amy from the hospital was there too and she was lovely. She couldn’t do enough for you. “And then I met the surgeon Dr Karim and he was an absolute gentleman. He explained everything so clearly beforehand. Then after the surgery he was always checking up on me. The care was incredible. “I was discharged back to my hotel after a couple of nights. The pain was gone. The numbness in my legs had gone. “I had great big sleeps at the hotel. I would wake up to blue skies and glorious sunshine and then go downstairs for the most amazing breakfast. It was like having this amazing holiday with surgery thrown in.

“I want to thank Chris, Greg, Scott and Amy and Dr Karim and all the Healthcare Abroad and HCB teams. I also want to sincerely thank Paul for his work in getting the Credit Union loan – and I’d like to thank David at Wexford Credit Union who is an absolute gentleman.

“My advice to anyone who has had an operation cancelled is to call Healthcare Abroad. They are the best. I actually got a call from a Dublin hospital while I was in Spain asking me if I wanted to stay on the waiting list. Thankfully I don’t.”

• Angela Carley travelled to Spain with Healthcare Abroad under the EU
  Cross Border Directive scheme.
• Angela’s surgery was financed by a loan from Wexford Credit Union.
  The HSE will reimburse all her medical costs around 16 weeks after she
  flies back to Ireland.
• Healthcare Abroad is Ireland’s only agency rated 5-star by its
  patients and cares for more patients each month in its EU hospitals
  than any other.