Teenager faces $40k in medical bills after getting sick on Europe trip

Tayla Cutts got a bad case of glandular fever in Ios, Greece and was sent to Athens for treatment. Photo / Facebook

Tayla Cutts, from Melbourne, faced almost $40,000 in medical bills when she was suddenly got sick on a European holiday - luckily her mother made her get travel insurance before she left.

After saving for five months, Cutts traveled to the other side of the world for a European summer holiday with her best friend.

Starting her trip in the UK, Cutts next visited Paris and Berlin before heading to the Greek Islands where she first felt tired and nauseous, Daily Mail Australia reports.

Tayla Cutts traveled to the UK, Paris and Berlin before getting sick in Greece. Photo / Facebook

The 19-year-old visited a doctor in Ios, Greece where she was diagnosed with a bad case of glandular fever and was sent by boat to Athens for treatment.

Her mother, Christine Cutts, told Daily Mail Australia how worried she was about her daughter having to be in hospital on her first solo adventure.

Tayla Cutts had been saving for five months with her best friend to travel overseas by herself for the first time. Photo / Facebook

"I stayed up all night worrying about her, it's every parent's worst nightmare not being about to help their child," she told Daily Mail Australia.

"How can I help from the other side of the world? Is she going to be okay? How bad is she? I just felt useless, stuck between a rock and a hard place."

For the next nine days, Cutts was in a hospital in Greece and racked up $34,000 in medical fees before she was sent home on a business class flight costing $4500.

The doctors made the decision to send her home as her due to her low white blood cell and inflammation in the liver and spleen.

Ms Cutts told Daily Mail Australia that the $511 travel insurance saved her daughter from paying the whopping $40,000 of medical bills.

"You're crazy to go overseas without it. It's the insurance you never want to have to use, but you need the most," she warned.