Desperate family launches fundraiser for British son, 34, in coma and stuck in Thailand after horror motorbike crash

A DESPERATE mother has launched a fundraising campaign to bring her son home for treatment after he suffered horrific injuries in a motorbike accident.

Adrian Wallace, 34, was hit by a car while on holiday in Phuket and is now in a coma, his mother Julie Hopkins told The Sun.

4

4

Now that Adrian is “unresponsive,” the family has no way of knowing whether he received medical care insurance or how to access it, and are now being charged fees of up to £64,000.

Julie, a retired teacher, said when she heard it news on January 3, she felt ill and her legs became weak.

Initially, the family had limited details and relied on information provided to them through the State Department.

At first, Julie only knew that her son was alive, but seriously injured.

As she waited to hear more, she said, “I took everything Christmas decorations down in the middle of the night because I didn't know what to do.”

The concerned mother later found out that her son was “unconscious in a coma, unable to make any movements and with serious head injuries.”

He also suffered knee fractures, multiple rib fractures, facial trauma and a dislocated hip and will likely require further surgery.

Julie said when she heard the news she “felt sick” and her “legs became weak.”

Julie was also told that Adrian had already undergone one operation because his 'bone was sticking out of his leg'.

She told the nurse to “do whatever it took” to save him.

Julie feared the injuries were so serious that when she first saw a photo of Adrian, she was “relieved that he was recognizable as (her) son.”

But she didn't realize that Adrian had been in a coma since the day of the accident.

“I assumed he was in a medically induced coma and they would be able to wake him up,” she said.

“When I got to the bottom of it, he's been in a coma since the accident, so they don't really know when he'll wake up,” she added.

And although Julie's “first instinct is to jump on a plane and help him wake up,” she is currently battling non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and must complete her treatment before she can go.

“It's just very, very difficult. I feel emotionally torn,” she said.

Julie finds some peace because she can talk to Adrian WhatsApp voice notes and phone calls as mentioned she feels 'less remote'.

“I say, 'If you can hear me open your eyes, everyone is thinking of you, we've all been 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'll wake up. I don't know where he will be when he wakes up.

“He's probably going to have to learn to walk again, I just have to take it one step at a time and do what I can do today,” she said.

Adrian took a break in between jobs working on superyachts when the 'nightmare' occurred.

He worked as a first mate and sometimes as a captain.

Julie said: “He has friends everywhere, all the traveling he did, he loved to travel, loved meeting people, was very thoughtful, very caring.”

She hopes Adrian will be able to fly home in a stable condition in the coming month and expects him to arrive on a stretcher, accompanied by two medics.

“The repatriation thinks it is not safe to fly him within four weeks because of the brain injury,” she said.

Although Adrian may be coming home soon, he faces a long road to recovery and it is thought the cost of his treatment will start at £65,000.

So far the family has spent almost £12,000 on medical care accounts and started with one fundraising campaign to cover other costs.

Julie has been “overwhelmed” by the support and has raised £37,545 of the cause.

She urged other families to check if they have travel insurance and also to let someone know how to access it in the worst-case scenario.

4

4