A BARRHEAD dad whose daughter is seriously ill in Thailand after she was struck down by a mystery bug has told how he feels “helpless.”

James Geddes, 48, pleaded for support to raise enough money to fly 25-year-old Rebekah Fulton home as fears for her health grow.

Rebekah is being treated at a hospital on the paradise island of Phuket but doctors have not yet been able to confirm what is wrong with her.

Barrhead News:

A fundraising drive to bring her back to Scotland so she can receive treatment closer to home has generated thousands of pounds within the space of 24 hours.

Speaking exclusively to the Barrhead News from Thailand, as he keeps a vigil at his daughter’s hospital bed, James said: “It is very difficult. She’s my girl and it is so difficult to see her lying there.

“I just feel helpless.”

Rebekah, a former pupil at Gleniffer High School in Paisley, had been travelling around Asia and Australia before settling down on the Thai island of Ko Phi Phi Don, where she holds a non-visitor status visa.

She had complained of an ear infection but the extent of her illness only became clear to James last week when the owner of the hostel where she was staying called him to raise the alarm.

James said: “Around two weeks ago, she had been complaining about an ear infection and I told her to go and get it sorted.

Barrhead News:

“She went to a pharmacy and was given antibiotics but that didn’t work and the infection spread to a lymph gland and she now has a huge swelling under her right arm.

“She was on another course of antibiotics but, last Tuesday, was complaining that she was hot and very tired. She wasn’t eating properly and had no appetite, which I thought wasn’t right.

“On Thursday, the person who owns the hostel she is living in on the island phoned to tell me Rebekah was very ill but wasn’t fit enough to travel.”

James decided to fly to Thailand and arrived on Ko Phi Phi Don on Sunday before taking Rebekah straight to the island’s medical facility.

He added: “They tried to treat her but, because they didn’t have the facilities, I had to get a private speedboat to get her off the island and over to Phuket.

“The hospital there screened her blood and her white blood cell count was more than double the high end of normal. They then put her on more antibiotics. It has been very, very difficult today because she has got a secondary infection.

“Rebekah had a brain scan today and they are talking about the possibility of her having meningitis, encephalitis or something similar – but they just don’t know.

“It is very, very difficult. I’m taking this minute by minute.”

James said he has been overwhelmed with the support he has received since setting up a GoFundMe page in the hope of raising enough money to fly Rebekah home.

“I contacted a company in England about flying her home and they told me it would be a minimum of £20,000 – and that is just for a medical assistant,” he added.

More than £7,000 had been raised in support of Rebekah.

To make a donation, visit HERE.