Mekala Osborne returns to Wallyford home after recovering from serious illness

And it was a spectacular homecoming, as the qualified personal trainer was greeted by about 150 friends and neighbours on her return from hospital today (Monday).

Mekala, who became seriously ill while travelling in South East Asia last autumn, was at one point given just a five per cent chance of survival but has beaten all the odds.

Many of the people who turned out to welcome the former Preston Lodge High School pupil – staying socially distanced in their family groups – were wearing a yellow sash, after Mekala’s stepdad Jimmy had said he would “tie a yellow ribbon round the tree when [his] girl got home”.

Not only that – the Osborne family home on Wallyford’s Dury Way was covered in hundreds of yellow bows, contributed by well-wishers and organised by family friend Angela Thompson.

Angela, 52, who went to school with Mekala’s mum Yvonne, said: “Mekala’s story touched everybody’s heart – a young girl who was just going away on holiday and had this attack.”

The Prestonpans resident set up a Facebook page and suggested that folk contribute a yellow bow for a display to welcome Mekala home.

Enthusiastic supporters contributed enough bows to cover six nets – 96 bin bags’ worth – which Angela hung on the walls of the Osborne house, where Mekala will be staying with her mum, stepdad and brother Danny.

Angela said: “It took me four days to put the bows onto each net. We tied each bow onto the nets individually, then went on top of the house’s car port with a ladder and tied the nets to the gutter with cable ties!”

Mekala was taken ill in September last year, just a few weeks into a trip to South East Asia.

Initially, the keen hockey player complained of a sore throat but she was diagnosed with necrotising pneumonia and put into an induced coma in Vietnam.

She returned to Scotland in November last year and since then has undergone gruelling rehabilitation.

Angela said: “When we saw Mekala’s face, it was so worth it. She was actually speechless.

“It was just magical. To see the family together again, it was lovely.

“And she wasn’t expecting to see the house covered in yellow ribbons.

“There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.”