Instead they dedicated their lives to helping stray animals and, despite facing near-fatal illness and the tsunami, they are determined their work will continue – even though Gill has had both legs amputated below the knee.
After marrying on the isl
and of Phuket ten years ago, they planned to return to Thailand permanently.
So when John took early retirement from print company Agfa, they had a house built and moved from their home in Scarcroft.
They had always intended to help stray dogs, of which there are about 17,000 in Phuket alone.
Bacteria
But when the couple got involved with a charity called the Soi Dog Foundation, they realised their help was needed full-time.
The charity sterilises and feeds stray dogs and works with volunteer vets from abroad, treating sick animals.
Gill and John run clinics throughout the area, especially in local schools.
But last September Gill became seriously ill after venturing into a muddy field to catch a dog.
Doctors think she picked up bacteria in a cut and a week later she was rushed to hospital with septic shock.
"She was admitted into intensive care and I was told she would not survive the second night," John said.
Gill pulled through but was transferred to the Thai capital Bangkok, where she was in intensive care for six weeks.
Gangrene meant she had to have both legs amputated below the knee. The 45-year-old returned home to Phuket on December 21, after three months in hospital.
When the tsunami hit on Boxing Day, Gill and John at first knew nothing of it in their home 500 metres from the sea, but Gill then discovered her best friend had been killed.
Afterwards the couple went north to help in the relief effort. "I was wrapping bodies for two days," John said.
"Gill went to the hospital and talked to people like amputees. She became a counsellor overnight."
When their help was no longer needed, they returned to helping animals who had been injured or lost their food source.
The couple said Phuket had been relatively unscathed and local people were desperate for tourists to return.
"At the moment the biggest disaster facing Phuket is the lack of tourism," John said.
"People are staying away and it's going to hit local people hard."
And the couple said despite the challenges, they had no plans to return to the UK.
John, 55, said: "The thought has never crossed either of our minds."
Following her illness, Gill used a wheelchair and now has temporary prosthetic legs. She is having another operation soon and then will get her permanent "new legs".
"It could've happened to anybody, anywhere in the world," she said."But it has changed my outlook on life."
She thanked UK vets who had given their time for free and said her disability would not hold her back.
"Nobody's going to stop me. I am determined 110 per cent."
l For more information about stray animals in Thailand, log on to www.soidogfoundation.com or the World Society for the Protection of Animals website www.wspa-international.org which is co-ordinating aid efforts for animals.
katie.baldwin@ypn.co.uk
