British tourist breaks neck during trip to France, faces huge medical bill after traveling without insurance
A British man was left unable to walk after breaking his neck while on holiday in France and facing huge medical bills because he traveled without insurance.Guy Evans, 30, suffered the life-changing injury on April 19 while visiting his father’s holiday home in the Loire Valley with his brother Stan.What started as a simple attempt to remove broken tree branches from the garden soon turned into a nightmare when Guy fell about 10 feet over a stone wall after a branch broke beneath him.
Briton ‘destroyed’ vertebra in strange accident
The freelance copywriter was taken to hospital, where doctors revealed he had a broken C6 vertebra in his neck.Describing the terrifying experience from his hospital bed, Guy said he had “wiped out” one of the vertebrae near the top of his spine.“Very fortunately I haven’t had my spine severed, which obviously would have been more or less curtains for me,” he said.Doctors performed a six-hour emergency surgery the day after the accident, reconstructing the damaged vertebra using bone taken from his left hip. A second operation took place a week later.
No travel insurance means families face huge costs
While Guy has returned to the UK for treatment at King’s College Hospital in south London, his family is struggling to cover rising medical and repatriation expenses because he did not take out travel insurance before the trip.Guy admitted his mistake, saying, “I’m a stupid, stupid guy. You always think these things won’t happen to you.”His younger brother Robbie Evans launched a GoFundMe page to help pay the rising costs of getting Guy back to the UK and support his rehabilitation.
GoFundMe donations flood in
The fundraising impressed people online and soon passed the £102,000 mark.In an update shared on the fundraising page, Robbie said the family is “completely overwhelmed” by the support they have been receiving from strangers.He explained that a portion of the money has already been used to fund Guy’s medical transfer back to the UK, while the remaining funds will help with his long recovery process and future living arrangements if he is unable to regain full mobility.
still unable to walk
Although Guy has regained some movement in his arms and hands, he is still unable to walk and now faces months of intensive rehabilitation.According to him, the first 18 months after such an injury are considered crucial for recovery.Despite the ordeal, Guy says he feels lucky doctors were able to save his spinal cord from more devastating damage.