A Melbourne grandmother, Konstantina Karitinos, who goes by Yiayia Dina, is stuck in Greece following two strokes that have left her hospitalised and her family are asking for help.
While travelling in Greece in October, Yiayia Dina suffered an ischemic stroke and was hospitalised. Since then, she has been between hospital and rehab in Larissa, suffering another transient stroke on November 22.
She is now stuck in Greece and her family are desperate to get her home where she can be around her loved ones and receive care in Melbourne.
Due to her medical condition and extreme fragility, a medically assisted flight is the only way to get her home safely.
This means an Australian nurse has to fly to Greece to get her, take her to the airport and fly back with her in business class, since she needs to be lying down the whole way.
This is going to cost the family $35,000, so they have created a GoFundMe called ‘Help Yiayia Dina get home’ to help raise funds to bring her back.
“It has been very hard on our family that our beloved yiayia became critically ill at all, but that it happened on the other side of the world, far away from home has been incredibly stressful,” her grandson Alexander Petropoulos told Neos Kosmos.
“I have been calling her on WhatsApp to tell her how much I love her, and to reassure her that we will see her again very soon.
“Before the stroke, my yiayia was a phenomenon. At 88 she was fiercely independent, driving, gardening, cooking, coming to my gigs, reading a book a week, even working casually as a brand ambassador on Instagram, enjoying socialising and living life to the full. She was so strong and full of life.”
She travelled to Greece with Alexander’s mum because she is writing a memoir about yiayia’s life.
Yiayia Dina wanted to show her the places she grew up, and to see her relatives for the last time.
She was born on a farm near Aigio and lived through World War II, being only six-years-old at the time.
She has told many stories of the time, including having to hide her brothers and not being able to attend school, which had been turned into a Nazi barrack.
Like many Greeks, she moved to Australia in the 1960s for a better life and future. Since then, she had four daughters and worked in factories to support her family.
After her husband died in 2000, she moved in with one of her daughter’s (Alexander’s mum) and has been an integral part in raising him, his sister and cousin.
In recent times, she has become involved in the advertising campaign of a company called Pistachio Papi, who sell a pistachio spread.
Alexander said this gave her a new lease on life. She has also found modelling work with Bonds and other companies and has become a bit of a minor celebrity in some circles.
Pistachio Papi have donated $5,000 to help the family out, which they are very grateful for.
“The community has been so incredibly kind and generous. People who know yiayia know how much she has given to the community as a volunteer over the years. How supportive and kind she has been,” Alexander said.
“Yiayia is much loved by so many. My message to anyone who might consider donating is that no donation is too small and it would mean the world to my yiayia and our family, to have her reunited with us and back home.”
