Inspirational Mekala Osborne begins walking rehab after 100 days in hospital following Vietnam trip nightmare

On Saturday, Yvonne spread the news that Mekala had settled in to the new hospital to begin to build her strength.

A woman who has spent more than 100 days in hospital after falling ill on a dream holiday in Vietnam is undertaking rehab to build up her strength to walk again.

22-year-old personal trainer Mekala Osborne, from East Lothian, was moved to the Astley Ainslie hospital on Thursday and released a video message to her supporters.

In the message, she said: “Finally, after 117 days in the Royal Infirmary I am actually on my way to rehab. I’m away to the Astley Ainslie to get myself walking, everything sorted and then I’ll be back dancing at the club in no time.

“Thank you for all your support and everything so far. It is really really appreciated and has kept me strong through all of this.

“A special thank you to everyone at the Royal Infirmary from the physios, nurses, doctors, consultants, Eve in infection control, thank you to everyone.”

Mekala’s mum Yvonne McAulay said: “This is Mekala’s time to shine now as the physio is all down to her.”

On Saturday, Yvonne spread the news that Mekala had settled in to the new hospital to begin to build her strength.

In September last year, Mekala, who is from Wallyford fell ill on a dream holiday with a friend in Vietnam.

She thought that she simply had a sore throat which she was treating with Strepsils but was left fighting for her life.

The infection initially worsened and she was first diagnosed with bronchitis when then developed into the dangerous and sometimes fatal bronchial pneumonia.

She had previously spent two months in a specialist unit in Da Nang, Vietnam and spent almost a fortnight in an induced coma. In a specialist Singapore hospital she was brought out of her coma and gradually grew strong enough for a special flight back to the UK.

Mekala underwent life-saving surgery by Dr Winston Jong, who was part of a three-strong medical team that accompanied her on the 13 -hour flight back to the UK. She first flew in to Manchester airport in November and then was ferried north to Edinburgh by ambulance for further treatment.

She then spent a further 117 days in Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary, where she was on a trache to support her breathing.

At the beginning of the month, she was finally breathing on her own for the first time since she was hospitalised.

During her initial hospitalisation, her family were told to ‘pray she survives’ as she faced a five per cent chance of survival.

However, despite staring death in the face, Mekala has put up a fight and has now built up enough strength in her lungs to begin to learn to walk again and work on her physical strength.

At the beginning of March she said in an emotional message: “I’ve still got a long way to go and nobody knows how long it will take to regain the feeling in my hands and to walk again but rest assured I will. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go

through but after a 5 per cent chance of surviving it is really true what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

The family have been inundated with messages from well wishers and supporters who have followed Mekala’s journey.