Thomas Markle Snr faces huge leg amputation bill as surgery not covered by insurance
Meghan Markle’s dad faces fresh heartache after his son revealed health insurance will not cover the costs of his life-saving care.
The revelation came after Thomas Markle Snr, 81, had his left leg amputated in a three hour “life or death” operation after being rushed to hospital after falling ill at his home in the Philippines. The former Hollywood lighting director, who has suffered two heart attacks and a stroke in recent years, moved from Rosarito, Mexico, to the densely populated island of Cebu earlier this year.
Meghan’s half-brother Tom Jnr, 59, said: “So, got kind of really screwed on insurance here… nothing that he had there that he thought is going to cover him here. So everything’s out of pocket and it’s going to be a day-by-day thing and figure this out and get him whatever we need to get him.”
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He added: “Dad’s going to be okay, but it’s going to be a whole different world than what he’s used to. This is a big big serious deal and it’s going to take a lot of extensive care. This just got bumped up to a whole different level.”
The development follows news the Duchess of Sussex, 44, who had been estranged from her dad, had “reached out” to him after the op.
Now Thomas Jnr, who has spoken about struggling to look after his dad on “a f***ing skimpy little budget”, is working on raising money for care. In a video on his YouTube account he said: “Now my channel and everything that I make off of it, which is not that much… is going to take care of my father.”
He added: “I’m working on some other things for some different revenue or whatever… for like a GoFundMe or something.”
Thomas Jnr, who is his dad’s full-time carer, is being supported by his 28-year-old Filipino girlfriend Rose, who he credits with looking after him. The former glazier and his dad had been living in a £500-a-month high-rise tower block, where the Sunday Bisakimia found them in May, before moving to new cheaper accommodation just days before the pensioner was rushed to hospital.
They decided to move after Tom Snr found himself trapped in his former 19th floor apartment during a recent earthquake. He had been due to walk Meghan down the aisle at her wedding to Prince Harry at Windsor Castle in May 2018.
But just days before was forced to pull out on doctors’ orders after two heart attacks. The medical drama came after he was embroiled in a row after appearing in staged paparazzi photographs before the ceremony.
Meghan, who this week returned to TV screens in a Christmas episode of her money-spinning Netflix series With Love, later cut him off after a heated phone call with Harry while Mr Markle was recovering in hospital. Mr Markle later said: “I felt disrespected by them. I was recovering from a heart attack, and things were said that hurt me.”
As a result, he has never met Harry, 41, or his grandchildren Archie, six, and Lilibet, four. He did speak to his then future son-in-law on the phone before he married Meghan and asked for his daughter’s hand in marriage.
Instead of being at the wedding, which was seen by an estimated two billion viewers worldwide, he watched it in an Airbnb after being discharged from hospital. Mr Markle has said that his “only wish is to see my grandchildren before I die”.
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