One local woman's vacation took a tragic turn in Mexico, and another came close to a similar fate.

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Video: Vacation Turns Tragic Video: Spring Break Nightmare

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Marlene Minkus suffered a massive stroke and collapsed at the resort near Cancun where she was staying with her husband, Ken.

"After we got to the hospital, her hand was all swelled up," Ken Minkus told Channel 4 Action News. "They didn't put the IV in the vein. They stuck it in her skin, and all that was going in her hand."

Ken Minkus said the hospital threatened to send his wife to a smaller facility if he could not pay the $7,000 bill for her first two days of care. His credit cards were not accepted as payment.

Marlene's trip insurance company wouldn't fly her back to Pittsburgh on an air ambulance because doctors thought she only had hours to live, so Ken chartered the aircraft with help from Marlene's sister. Marlene made it to a Pittsburgh hospital in time to see her newborn grandchild.

Doctors ended Marlene's life support after the quick visit, and she died 45 minutes later. Ken now owes $60,000 that it took to get her home.

Meanwhile, a vacationing college student who ended up in a Mexican hospital might still be there if not for a relatively small amount of money that she spent before the trip.

Spring breaker Katie Ward was with her college friends in Cancun when she suffered a stroke due to a hole in her heart muscle that she never knew she had.

"My friends thought I was joking around and I was trying to tell them that my arms felt like they were asleep and my words were slurred," she told Channel 4 Action News.

After being required to pay $1,000 up front, Ward's hospital proved to be insufficient for her needs.

Fortunately, Ward's $43 travel insurance covered the cost for a medical ambulance to fly her home.

She's now recovering at a Pittsburgh hospital.