In just four days, a community have rallied together to raise over R200 000 for a South African stuck in a Thailand hospital.
Johannesburg, South Africa – John-Dell Riley, a South African living in Thailand, was involved in a horrific motor accident on the 13th of December. John is a bubbly 24-year-old who has been working in the country as a teacher for the past two years.
On Friday the 13th of Dec, John left his house to meet up with some friends. His girlfriend Sarah stayed at home. When Sarah woke up the next day she realised John never came home and got in touch with his friends to see if he was with them, they told her he never arrived. They began frantically phoning all their acquaintances and started calling hospitals in the area as well.
They eventually, after almost 24 hours, found him at the Chiang Mai academic hospital.
Due to the language barrier, it was difficult to understand what had happened entirely. But John had obviously been involved in an accident with his bike. A bystander apparently called the ambulance and John was rushed into emergency surgery where they diagnosed him with the following injuries:
- Broken right Femur as well as the Fibula and Tibia
- The left leg has the Fibula and Femur broken as well as at the ball joint to his hip
- His hip is fractured, and they are concerned over potential nerve damage
- Acute Kidney Injury
- His right calf had the skin and flesh grazed off almost to the bone and caused major blood loss
He received hours worth of surgery to stop the bleeding from the massive trauma and also had temporary pins put in his legs to keep him in traction until money could be raised for the complicated surgery needed.
When Sarah found him, he had already left the first surgery and was in Intensive Care (ICU), but John was not in good shape. He was barely conscious and in excruciating pain. John will ultimately need extensive reconstructive surgery on his legs at another private hospital in Chiang Mai to give him the best possible chance at retaining some semblance of full function of his legs. The costs for that surgery alone are estimated to be around R500 000, coupled with the R150 000 already spent at the government hospital to date and the rehab costs that will follow.
Doctors are estimating that the total costs could reach close to R1 million.
The family have raised as many funds as they can by borrowing and cashing out policies but desperately needed some help to get John back on his feet!
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And getting him back into that classroom teaching his kids who mean the world to him and put that massive smile back on JD’s face!”
Jake Riley decided to open a Backabuddy fundraiser on the 21st of December to try and help with costs and in just4 days, has managed to raise over R200 000! And although they have a long way to go to reach the million mark, the family are extremely grateful.
“The initial costs were R150 000 for the emergency operations and subsequent care and additional cleaning operation. We have just paid a R250 000 deposit for the private hospital where he will have the pins and such fixed to his leg. The estimates for that procedure are around R500 000.”
All funds raised will be used to finance Johns medical procedures including the operations, his ward costs, rehab etc. Jake will post all receipts of procedures for clarity and transparency on the Facebook Page he has created.
“My darling mother Dell and incredible Aunty Janet have been by Johns side almost every waking hour since they arrived in Thailand on the 18th of December. They have had help from lots of incredible people in Chiang Mai, but especially from Miss Gift (Deputy Assistant Director) and Miss Golf (Johns teaching assistant) from their school.
To them we are extremely grateful, all the admin, translations and constantly being by my mom’s side at the hospital, even during their holiday, has been incredibly generous and means the world to my family, so to those ladies an especially big thank you!”
You can follow John-Dell’s progress on the Facebook Page by clicking here or help with the fund by clicking here.
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