Edinburgh man with dementia missing in Barcelona found at bus stop and taken to hospital

The disabled Edinburgh man with dementia who went missing from his Barcelona hotel at 4am on Monday was found yesterday evening and taken to hospital.

David Moore, 65, better known as Davy, had last been seen by reception staff at Hotel Oasis early on Monday morning exiting the hotel, leaving his wife Christine and friends who were with him in the Catalan Capital frantically searching the streets for a day and a half.

A young woman from Canada, Emma Dagenkamp, who was on holiday in Barcelona and whose late father also suffered from Alzheimer’s like Davy, saw a social media post about the Carrick Knowe man’s disappearance and went out to look for him.

She found him in just 15 minutes, around two or three kilometres from the Hotel Oasis, sitting at a Barcelona bus stop. He was taken to the hospital as a precaution and to check him over after 36 hours wandering the streets.

He is still in hospital, having been checked over by doctors, with his feet in a bad way from walking the streets of Barcelona and he is suffering from a slight upset stomach. Friends said he is “mostly perfectly lucid but is sometimes forgetting who his wife is”. Davy is currently being kept in for observation and is resting.

Family friend, church minister Donna McCarron-Flynn, who went to Barcelona on holiday with the couple and her husband Captain Mark Flynn, 55, expressed her joy at Davy being found, after searching the city for him. She thanked the power of social media and prayer for finding him.

She said: “David has been found! It was through Facebook and faithful prayer!!

“A young woman whose dad has Alzheimer’s, who has experience of this tragic illness, saw a post whilst she just happened to be on holiday in Barcelona  and decided to look for him. We just want to thank her for what’s she has done. Bless her!

“She found him resting in a bus stop, filthy and resting. Looks like he’s been walking all night and all day. He’s conscious but unwell and heading to hospital in an ambulance.

“There’s not a word for the gratitude we feel right now to all who posted our appeal on social media and prayed. We worked together, by the grace of God, and saved a man!

“We are hoping to meet the woman who found Davy tomorrow to thank her personally. We are so delighted to have found him.”

Speaking more about the power of prayer, Donna added: “Davy's wife is over-joyed but exhausted, as we all are, and trying to rest and recover from the trauma of the last two days.

“Our church, Broxburn Baptist, met to pray when Davy was missing, then met to rejoice together and give thanks to the Lord for ensuring the right person was in the right place at the right time to find him.

“The organic Christian network across the UK and Spain, and even further afield into the US, saw to it that Davy was being prayed for by many thousands of people, of different denominations, but sharing one Father.”

The two couples were in Barcelona to celebrate Christine’s 60th birthday and had been due to fly back on Tuesday, April 9, but booked into another Barcelona hotel to search for Davy. They now hope to return to Edinburgh on Thursday night, depending on Davy’s condition.