NEWS — SPECIAL REPORT
Abta’s charitable trust provides financial help after Travel Europe’s Paul Hagan suffers a heart attack. JULIET DENNIS reports
Help from Abta trust is a LifeLine for wife Kate
When Kate Hagan couldn’t get hold of her husband Paul for three hours she knew something was wrong. “He always called and he wasn’t
answering his phone. I thought he’d had a car crash,” says Kate, recalling the fateful day in February this year. She contacted the police and filed a missing person’s report. Her husband was found to be in the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton after suffering a severe heart attack while training to ride in the part of the 2015 Tour de France open to the public. Paul, UK commercial manager
for Travel Europe, a wholesaler to tour operators, was put into an
keep a roof over our heads – it
literally was a lifeline”
“Abta gave me money to
induced coma, suffered multiple seizures and did not regain consciousness for three days. “Luckily, there was a defibrillator at the gym and they managed to shock him back to life,” says Kate, 44. “If he had been anywhere else he would have died.” After a week in hospital – and just as Kate thought he was over the worst – Paul, 50, suffered another arrhythmia. His heart stopped for 20 minutes.
“I assumed the worst,”
admits Kate, who has two children with Paul, Tom, 11, and Ellie, eight. Amazingly, Paul pulled through,
but was again put into an induced coma, this time for three weeks. “They were not hopeful for his
survival. It was like living through a nightmare,” says Kate. The ordeal was far from over.
Paul Hagan’s family: Kate, Tom and Ellie
While Paul spent the next two months in hospital before being transferred to a special brain injury rehabilitation unit, Kate was facing the day-to-day reality of how to pay the mortgage, bills and feed her family on her part-time salary. “Paul’s company has been so supportive and carried on paying him for a couple of months,” said
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travelweekly.co.uk — 4 December 2014
Paul Hagan recovers from a heart attack with his children Ellie and Tom
CHRISTMASAPPEAL Nominate someone in real need
Abta Lifeline has launched an appeal to help those in travel most in need this Christmas – and wants your help. The Spirit of Christmas Appeal has 50 hampers to send to those struggling to make ends meet, and Abta’s charitable trust is asking for people in the trade to nominate colleagues or friends who are in real need this Christmas. Director Trudie Drake said:
“We know there are some real hardship cases at Christmas and people who will struggle to put a Christmas dinner on the table. We want travel agents in particular to nominate anyone they know of who is going
Kate, who has now been forced to “cut back drastically”. Apart from a personal independence payment (PIP) from the government, which will amount to about a quarter of Paul’s salary, her own salary does not entitle her family to any further benefit. After a friend’s suggestion, Kate
found out about Abta LifeLine. “Abta LifeLine stopped me from going into debt,” says Kate. “They have given me money to keep a
through a hard time. There must be a real need; being a little bit hard-up at Christmas is not enough. We exist to provide help where it’s needed most.” To be in with a chance of
receiving a hamper, email LifeLine@abtalifeline by Monday, December 15, with the following details: l Your friend/colleague’s name l The Abta member they have worked for or are working for
l Explain, in no more than 150 words, the hardship the person is going through and why they deserve a Christmas hamper. Details at:
abtalifeline.org.uk/ get-involved/spirit-of-christmas
roof over our heads for the next six months and time to think about what to do without panicking. It literally was a lifeline.” Paul’s recovery to date from his
brain injury means he can now talk, walk and feed himself, although he will never work again after 30 years in the industry at companies including Bladon Lines, Nouvelles Frontières, Contiki and Neilson. Kate adds: “I am learning to live
by the day; who knows where we will be in five years’ time.”
SPECIAL REPORT
Paul’s family saved by Abta LifeLine
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