PHUKET: Tourist Sean Kenzie, trapped on Phuket in a wrangle with a private hospital over insurance, revealed today that he hopes to board a medical evacuation flight home on Thursday.
The 27-year-old motorcycle crash victim has been told that an anonymous donor has come to his rescue to pay the high cost of a medevac flight to New Zealand with a doctor.
Carrying a machine to drain his lungs, Mr Kenzie told Phuketwan today at a Phuket hospital: ''Details have to be confirmed but I'm delighted to hear the news and I hope it all goes according to plan.''
He is now coping with life in Phuket's overcrowded Vachira Phuket Hospital, where few people speak English, patients stretch out in lift foyers and he lives on cans of tuna and protein supplements.
He still has a top-up bill for 750,000 baht to pay at the luxurious private Bangkok Hospital Phuket, which is just a kilometre down the road in Phuket City from his present simple accommodation.
Back in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, family and friends rushed to his aid via Facebook when they heard he needed money: brother Kane offered to sell space for a tattoo on his body and friend Michelle Carlton auctioned herself off to a stranger on a blind date.
The hospital debt kept mounting because Mr Kenzie, who had been living and working in Perth for four years, thought he had a top-level insurance coverage that included motorcycle crashes.
A van hit Mr Kenzie from behind as he sat on a hired bike on the side of a road on the first day of his Phuket holiday. He was wearing a helmet, but even so he was knocked into a coma and suffered life-threatening injuries.
The bills mounted up in intensive care and with extensive surgery at Bangkok Hospital Phuket, where Spanish guitarists have been known to serenade customers in the Accounts lobby.
When the hospital discovered Mr Kenzie's Cover More policy did not cover motorcycle crashes, his problems grew more critical. Only after most of the bills were paid was he suddenly transferred out of Bangkok Hospital Phuket.
He remains angry at the insurance company because he says that when he took out a policy, he specifically asked for the highest level of coverage.
''I've been put through the wringer,'' he said. ''There have been some good aspects, though.
''My girlfriend Amy [Myles] had to follow me to Phuket on the next flight from Perth because her passport was delayed.
''If she had come with me on the same flight, she would have been sitting behind me on the motorcycle and taken the full force of the smash.''
Now he hopes for a reunion in New Zealand soon. He is also grateful for regular visits from a volunteer Christian worker on Phuket, Angelika Langner, who brings food and good company.
Mr Kenzie does not know where his hospital destination will be in New Zealand, but he does know his smashed jaw will have to be broken and reset, and he expects to have more surgery on his collapsed lungs and a damaged knee.
''I can't speak highly enough of those who helped me,'' he said, ''both those I know and those I don't know. ''I'll be back on Phuket one day,'' he said. ''Thailand owes me a holiday.''
His advice to other travellers is plain: always check your insurance. And if you want to ride a motorcycle on Phuket, be as careful with the insurance as you need to be on the roads.
The 27-year-old motorcycle crash victim has been told that an anonymous donor has come to his rescue to pay the high cost of a medevac flight to New Zealand with a doctor.
Carrying a machine to drain his lungs, Mr Kenzie told Phuketwan today at a Phuket hospital: ''Details have to be confirmed but I'm delighted to hear the news and I hope it all goes according to plan.''
He is now coping with life in Phuket's overcrowded Vachira Phuket Hospital, where few people speak English, patients stretch out in lift foyers and he lives on cans of tuna and protein supplements.
He still has a top-up bill for 750,000 baht to pay at the luxurious private Bangkok Hospital Phuket, which is just a kilometre down the road in Phuket City from his present simple accommodation.
Back in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, family and friends rushed to his aid via Facebook when they heard he needed money: brother Kane offered to sell space for a tattoo on his body and friend Michelle Carlton auctioned herself off to a stranger on a blind date.
The hospital debt kept mounting because Mr Kenzie, who had been living and working in Perth for four years, thought he had a top-level insurance coverage that included motorcycle crashes.
A van hit Mr Kenzie from behind as he sat on a hired bike on the side of a road on the first day of his Phuket holiday. He was wearing a helmet, but even so he was knocked into a coma and suffered life-threatening injuries.
The bills mounted up in intensive care and with extensive surgery at Bangkok Hospital Phuket, where Spanish guitarists have been known to serenade customers in the Accounts lobby.
When the hospital discovered Mr Kenzie's Cover More policy did not cover motorcycle crashes, his problems grew more critical. Only after most of the bills were paid was he suddenly transferred out of Bangkok Hospital Phuket.
He remains angry at the insurance company because he says that when he took out a policy, he specifically asked for the highest level of coverage.
''I've been put through the wringer,'' he said. ''There have been some good aspects, though.
''My girlfriend Amy [Myles] had to follow me to Phuket on the next flight from Perth because her passport was delayed.
''If she had come with me on the same flight, she would have been sitting behind me on the motorcycle and taken the full force of the smash.''
Now he hopes for a reunion in New Zealand soon. He is also grateful for regular visits from a volunteer Christian worker on Phuket, Angelika Langner, who brings food and good company.
Mr Kenzie does not know where his hospital destination will be in New Zealand, but he does know his smashed jaw will have to be broken and reset, and he expects to have more surgery on his collapsed lungs and a damaged knee.
''I can't speak highly enough of those who helped me,'' he said, ''both those I know and those I don't know. ''I'll be back on Phuket one day,'' he said. ''Thailand owes me a holiday.''
His advice to other travellers is plain: always check your insurance. And if you want to ride a motorcycle on Phuket, be as careful with the insurance as you need to be on the roads.
I've not really follow this, but isn't the driver of the vehicle that hit him responsible or was it the usual hit and run away job? Surely if the driver stayed put then his insurance would be liable for the costs.
Posted by Graham on July 24, 2012 18:19