Three-year-old fights for life after food poisoning on holiday

A three-year-old Sydney girl is on life support in a Turkish hospital after her family came down with food poisoning while on holiday.

A mother, father and daughter became violently ill and were taken to an Istanbul hospital for treatment.

While the parents have since been discharged from hospital their daughter, Hiba, suffered heart, kidney and liver failure.

According to the family’s GoFundMe page Hiba is now in a coma after her food poisoning developed into myocarditis, an inflammatory disease causing damage to the heart muscle.

“Her heart stopped and was restarted by doctors having to open her chest and physically massage her heart to try to restart it,” family member Souheil Zailaa wrote on the GoFundMe page.

“As well as being unable to breathe by herself for the past several days her kidneys and liver function have dropped rapidly. She has had a tube placed in her chest to allow her to breathe assisted.”

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Turkish doctors have told the family Hiba will need to spend at least another 25 days in hospital, with medical costs mounting to about $80,000.

Without travel insurance and with four other children back at home in Sydney, Souheil Zailaa said the family was now seeking additional financial help.

“So far the parents have spent $35,000 and have had to borrow money off family and friends but the funds are now limited and we need to reassure these parents that the community is by their side and doing what they can back here in Sydney,” Souheil Zailaa wrote.