"Christmas Angel" helps North Myrtle Beach couple return home after nightmare cruise
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WPDE) — North Myrtle Beach business-owners Bruce and Narcene Campbell are back in the U.S. after their Christmas cruise to the Bahamas took a tragic turn when Bruce suffered a stroke on board.
On Tuesday evening, an anonymous donor paid for the couple to be medically evacuated from Freeport, Bahamas to Wilmington, N.C.
“I was told this flight would cost over 20 thousand dollars. I know people are compassionate but who would really do that?" Narcene Campbell said. "I was in disbelief that it was finally happening but I was so grateful that it was."
Narcene told ABC 15 that the anonymous donor paid for the flight on the condition that his identity was never made public.
“This person is my Christmas angel. He's my Christmas miracle," Narcene said. "If he's listening or he sees this, he needs to know that we are so grateful to him, and that once I'm able to I'm going to pay this forward. I'm going to find someone who needs help and I'm going to help them.”
Narcene said Bruce was being treated at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington. She said he was in a medically-induced coma.
“When we got to the hospital, they did another scan on his brain and realized the stroke was more powerful than we were told which caused him to relapse," she said. "They informed me because it was so many hours past the onset of his stroke, the typical procedures to treat the stroke were not an option any longer."
She said she does not know what the outcome is going to be, and that she may have to make "the toughest decision of her life." She said doctors told her she may have to choose whether to continue his treatment or to let him go peacefully.
“I said, 'Can you just give me time to get my children here? They need to say goodbye to their Daddy if that’s the case,'" she said.
She said even if her husband does not eventually survive this, she is thankful her daughters will at least get the chance to see him one last time.
Narcene said she also wants to thank everyone who donated to them through a GoFundMe page, which has raised thousands of dollars.
“I don’t know how to put it in words, but what they’ve done for us has touched my heart so much and I know because of them, we’re going to be able to get through this no matter what the outcome is," she said.
She said when Bruce suffered the stroke on board and she was stuck in Freeport for multiple days with no money to get home, she felt hopeless.
She said all the people back home kept her going.
“If I didn’t have that kind of support I would’ve just caved in. I would’ve not been able to get through that. I know that," she said.
ABC 15 will continue to update you on Bruce Campbell's condition as we learn more.
