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10 months ago
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A DESPERATE mum has set up a fundraiser to bring her son home for treatment after he suffered horrific injuries in a motorbike crash.
Adrian Wallace, 34, was hit by a car while he was on holiday in Phuket and now remains in a coma, his mum Julie Hopkins told The Sun.
Julie Hopkins
Julie HopkinsWith Adrian “unresponsive” the family have no way of knowing if he had medical insurance or how to access it and now face fees of up to £64,000.
Julie, a retired teacher, said when she heard the news on the 3rd of January she “felt sick” and her legs “went weak.”
Initially the family had limited detail and relied on information given to them through the Foreign Office.
Initially all Julie knew was her son was alive but seriously injured.
She said while waiting to hear more: “I took all Christmas decorations down in the middle of the night because I didn’t know what to do.”
The worried mother later found out her son was “in a coma unconscious, unable to make any movement and with a serious head injury.”
He also had knee fractures, multiple rib fractures, facial trauma and a dislocated hip and will likely be requiring further surgery.
Julie said upon hearing the news she “felt sick” and her “legs went weak.”
Julie was also told Adrian had already had one operation as his “bone was protruding from his leg.”
She told the nurse to “do whatever it takes” to save him.
Julie had feared the injuries were so severe that when she first saw a photo of Adrian she felt “relieved that he was recognisable as (her) son.”
But she didn’t realise didn’t realise that Adrian had been in a coma since the day of the accident.
“I assumed he was in an induced coma and that they would be able to wake him up,” she said.
“When i got to the bottom of it he has been in a coma since the accident so they don’t actually know when he’s going to wake up,” she added.”
And although Julie’s “first instinct is to jump on a plane and help wake him”, she is currently battling non-Hodgkin lymphoma and needs to complete her treatment before she can go.”
“It’s just very, very difficult. I feel emotionally torn,” she said.
Julie finds some restbite being able to talk to Adrian through WhatsApp voice notes and calls as said she feels “less remote.”
“I say ‘if you can hear me open you eyes, everyone is thinking about you were all praying for you, keep trying’,” she told The Sun.
Although Julie now has more information she is still somewhat in the dark.
“I don’t know when he’s going to wake up I don’t know what place he’s going to be in when he wakes up.
“He’s probably going to have to learn to walk again, I just have to take one step at a time and do what I can do today,” she said.
Adrian was taking a break in between jobs working on superyachts when the “nightmare” occurred.
He worked as a first mate and sometimes a captain.
Julie said: “He has friends everywhere all the travelling he did, he liked travelling, liked meeting people, very thoughtful, very caring.”
She is hoping Adrian will be stable to fly home in the coming month and expects he will arrive on a stretcher accompanied by two medics.
“The medical repatriation man doesn’t think it will be safe to fly him before four weeks because of the brain injury,” she said.
Although Adrian might be home soon he faces a long road to recovery and its thought the cost of his treatment will start at £65,000.
So far the family have spent nearly £12,000 on medical bills and have started a fundraiser to cover the remaining costs.
Julie has been “overwhelmed” with the support and has raised £37,545 of the target.
She urged other families to check if they have travel insurance and also to let someone know how to access it should the worst happen.
Julie Hopkins
Julie Hopkins
English (US)