What was supposed to be a relaxing and much-deserved getaway to the sun and sand ended in near-tragedy for a local couple.
Marian and Stan Gomboc, who own the Gomboc's Jumbo Hot Dog business near the Anne Street Beer Store in Barrie, were in Cuba for a three-week holiday last month when Stan suffered a "massive stroke" on the seventh day of the trip.
After being taken from the resort to a nearby hospital by ambulance, Marian says Stan spent another week in hospital before doctors deemed his health stable enough to travel back home to Canada.
Despite having taken out additional health insurance before leaving on the trip, Marian tells BarrieToday she found herself fighting with the insurance company to get her husband home.
“It was very frustrating because Cuba was doing everything on their end,” she said.
Even though his doctors approved his release on a Friday, the couple was unable to leave the country for another four days due to delays from the insurance company, Marian said.
“The reason was they needed to make sure he had a bed to come to and it had to be within (our) postal code,” she added.
After a week of the company attempting to secure him a bed in Barrie, Marian says she demanded they widen their search.
“We needed to get him home," she said. "Finally, they wanted us to sign a waiver that they couldn’t get him a bed at RVH (Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre) so we’d be responsible to get him to emerg and to make sure he got in.
"Here I am, coming with a critical husband, to my own country, and couldn’t even get him a bed. It was hard.”
The agreement was that once they arrived in Toronto, an ambulance would take Stan from the airport to Barrie, she said.
However, once they arrived at the airport, Marian says paramedics refused to bring him to Barrie, instead taking him to a hospital in Etobicoke.
Once he arrived there, he underwent a variety of tests.
“It was like starting from scratch, because all of the medical reports were in Spanish," she said. "I got news in the morning that this was likely going to kill him because he’d had a small bleed since … they told us to call our family in."
Stan was eventually discharged and transferred to Orillia Soldiers' Memorial Hospital, where he has since shown improvement, Marian said.
“He’s showing little signs of progression. It’s day-by-day,” she said, acknowledging he will have a long road to recovery and is not expected to ever return to 100 per cent health.
“He’s gone from not going to make it to no longer having a feeding tube," Marian added. "As far as the cognitive side of it all, he knows all of us and he’s trying to speak, but he has no movement on his right side.”
Not knowing what the future holds, Marian hopes their food-truck customers will be patient as they navigate this challenging time and work toward not only bringing Stan home, but also reopening their popular business next month. The business closes during the winter.
“We thought, should we sell the business? But it’s something that I know Stan would continue if the shoe was on the other foot … I know he’d want to keep it going and try everything he could to make that happen,” Marian said.
Both her son and daughter will be helping get them back up and running and serving customers for another season, she added.
Marian told BarrieToday she’s leaning on her faith, as well as skills and strategies which she learned after the death of a daughter six years ago, to get her through this health scare.
“You can’t dwell in your grief. Yes, you have to have your period of grief, but you have to move on," she said. "With this situation, it’s very difficult because my husband didn’t pass, but he’s not completely there, either.”
Open four days a week from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Marian is hopeful they can make the business work.
“We are going to give it a try and see how it goes," she said. "My daughter has even given up her job to get this in place."
If all goes according to plan, the goal is to be open by mid-April.
“We have had the same customers for 13 years. We know them and …I hope people can be patient with us as we go through the change," Marian said.
