A GRANDFATHER who had a stroke while on holiday in Thailand has been flown back home to Scotland.

Bill Fairbairn is continuing his recovery at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, more than a month after the incident in the Thai capital city of Bangkok.

His daughter, Fiona Gunn, was pleased to say that her dad was showing signs of improvement.

She said: “He is doing really well.

“He has still got a feeding tube in but hopefully he will be getting that out pretty soon.

“He is still paralysed on one side but he is getting physio and hopefully will be on the mend quickly.”

The 64-year-old was flown back to Scotland from Asia via Istanbul.

He then received a private ambulance from Edinburgh through to Glasgow, where he is continuing treatment.

Fiona, who lives in Glasgow, told the Courier: “We were able to see him at the start but somebody on the ward had coronavirus.

“He is in a separate room from the rest of the people but they have closed the ward now.”

However, it is unlikely that Bill will be able to return home.

The grandfather lives in Dunbar’s town centre but his daughter said his home, which is upstairs, would no longer be suitable for him.

She added: “To be honest, we are not really thinking about that.

“We are just glad to get him here to get treatment and get physio.”

Bill had travelled to Thailand on January 16 and was due home on Thursday, March 19.

However, while there, he had a stroke and it is thought he was lying in his apartment for eight days before he was found.

Thirty-one-year-old Fiona had launched an appeal through social media trying to track down her dad.

She previously told the Courier: “Whenever he goes abroad, he messages my auntie, his sister, every day.

“On February 22, he stopped messaging her.

“On the Friday of that week, she text me to ask if I had heard from him.

“It was not unusual for me because I would not speak to him every day but he normally got in touch with her just to check in.

“I sent him a text message but it would not even send through WhatsApp.

“He was not answering emails and I started to get worried.

“We knew he was in Bangkok but did not know where he was staying and the only thing I could think of was to put a post on Facebook asking people if they had seen him or had any details.

“That was shared over 740 times.”

Eventually, the family managed to find out the building Bill was staying in and staff forced open the door, where they found him lying on the floor.

It was discovered that Bill had pulled out a pipe, which flooded his apartment and gave him a supply of water.

A GoFundMe page was launched urging people to make a donation, with more than £5,000 donated to help get Bill home.

Fiona thanked everyone who had donated and said they could not have done it without them.

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