by Nick Evans

A grandmother who fell into a coma after an accident on holiday abroad looks set to return home after almost six months in hospital.
Joan Grant found herself at the centre of a tussle with a travel insurance company earlier this after she became ill from a fall in Gran Canaria.
Her family waged a month-long battle with London-based Travel and General Insurance Company to get the 81 year-old home from the resort of Las Palmas.
Initially the firm claimed she had not declared past medical history and refused to pay for her to be brought home by air ambulance.
They eventually admitted an “administrative error” had led to confusion and agreed to re-patriate her.
She was flown back to the to the UK in February and has been cared for in hospital ever since.
According to her son Grahame, Mrs Grant, from Upchurch, is making such good progress it is hoped she will be home in the next few weeks.
He said: “The NHS has done wonders for my mother,
“They got her out of the coma in 48 hours and she has been recovering well ever since.
“She is as sharp as a pin and has been very determined to get better throughout. Her progress has been absolutely remarkable.
“This is all so different from when I had to fly out to Gran Canaria and saw her in a coma. I was told by three different doctors she would die and that I should consider switching off her life support machine. Thank God I decided against that.”
Mrs Grant has spent the last three months at Sittingbourne Memorial Hospital and is wearing callipers on her legs.
She has been learning to walk with a walking frame.
“She is due to have a home visit where she will be assessed to see how well she can cope and then a decision made about her return,” said her son.
Mrs Grant fell and broke her ankle in her cabin when on a Fred Olsen cruise in January.
The minor injury became serious after she caught pneumonia in hospital and she fell into a coma.
She was kept on a ventilator in Las Palmas.
The insurers wrangled over repatriating her via air ambulance, claiming she hadn’t declared all her past medical history.
They offered to bring her home on a passenger flight but relented a month later.