Mum-of-two hit by woman hurtling off water slide

Seaford resident Jemma Joslyn was on holiday in Turkey when the shock collision left her with five broken ribs and damage to her only kidney, plus serious damage to her liver which needed emergency surgery.

She was also left with fluid on her lung.

The 32-year-old said: “I went to a water park with my friend Natasha and her family but there were no lifeguards there.

“After a while, we decided to try a larger slide and left ten seconds between goes from the top of the slide so there was time to get out of the way.

“When it was my turn, I told my youngest daughter to count to ten slowly before following me so that we could get out of the way, and as I went down I could hear her counting loudly.”

But, when she got to the bottom, Jemma realised she had not been followed by her daughter.

She said: “Not long after I hit the water I saw two feet and felt someone smash into me.

“It was a huge woman, very muscular like a bodybuilder, she must have got impatient and pushed past my daughter to go on the slide.

“My daughter was screaming and thought I was dying, my eyes were rolling back in my head but there was no one around to help.”

Jemma damaged her only kidney, having donated her other kidney to her mum in 2015, and was rushed to the hospital by Natasha’s partner, Bill for a scan.

She said: “There was a translator there who told me my internal bleeding had doubled in the previous ten minutes and I needed surgery.

“I had travel insurance for the trip, but was told that it didn’t cover private healthcare, so while I was unconscious Bill had to pay £5,000 to save my life, it was a case of pay and you live, don’t and you die.”

She said the surgeons waited until the payment had come through before starting the procedure.

Following the operation, Jemma spent three days in intensive care and a further five in hospital.

During this time, Natasha, who was six months pregnant, looked after Jemma’s daughters, as well as her own three children.

Jemma’s parents flew out to look after her, but said they were met by rude staff from travel company Thomas Cook.

Her mum, Carol Ranns, said: “They call themselves a family company but they didn’t care at all, they never once asked how my daughter was and the five children had to share three single beds.

“While she was being cared for, there was also a big outbreak of diarrhoea and me and my partner were ill, it was a holiday from hell.”

A spokeswoman for Thomas Cook said: “Both our UK-based welfare team and our in-resort team have been in touch with Jemma on several occasions following this accident.

"We also arranged for her parents to fly to Turkey to be with their daughter. We are looking into our customers’ report of this accident at the Liberty Lykia Hotel.”