A family have made a heartfelt plea to bring a great-grandmother home from Tenerife, where she has been in a coma since the beginning of the month.

Marilynn Hutchins, 66, was holidaying with a friend on the Spanish island when on December 1 - the day before she was due to come home - she slipped and fell in her hotel room.

On falling, she hit her head and ended up suffering a brain haemorrhage, and has been hospital in Santa Cruz ever since.

Now, her family in Great Yarmouth are looking to raise £21,500 to bring her back to the town via air ambulance, as she did not buy travel insurance prior to the trip.

Her daughter, Samantha Bailey, said: 'You always expect these things to happen to other people, so she didn't think she would need the insurance, but it is costing a lot of money to keep her there. 'The whole family just want her home as soon as we possibly can.'

Mother-of-four Miss Hutchins of Hawkins Close, also has six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, with the accident putting Christmas on hold for the family.

Mrs Bailey, 40, a mother-of-two herself, added: 'We cannot even begin to think about Christmas - it is the last thing on my mind.

'It's horrendous - this is the worst time of year this could have happened.'

Mrs Bailey, along with husband Karl has already spent around £2,000 travelling to Tenerife to visit her mother, along with older sister Donna Curtis, but has since returned to her home on Harbord Crescent.

Mrs Bailey's 22-year-old daughter Danielle has set up a fundraising page to try and garner support.

On it she wrote: 'It's a very traumatic time for the entire family and we desperately need to bring her home and get her the best possible care we can.

'Anyone that knows her personally will know how caring and kind hearted she is. She would give her last penny and everything she has to help others, now is the time to help her.'

The page can be found here.