A Key to Unlock Locked-In Syndrome

Hello ! My name is Jennifer. My Sister, Mum and myself are trying to raise money for my brother who has been placed on life support in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 6280 miles away from his family home in Thornton-Cleveleys, England. 

We know Charles as a hard working and healthy man. He was made redundant last year from his job at a call-centre in London and he decided to dip into his savings and take a year out travelling. 

He has been staying in cheap rental accommodation in Phnom Penh for the last few months. He and his Landlord have became friends during this time and it was his landlord who noticed on Thursday he hadnt heard from Charles in the last few days.  

Charles was discovered by his friend on Thursday on the floor of his flat and unconcious. His friend took him to a local hospital, CT scans were made and two large blood clots were found in his brain stem.  

He is only 38 years old, much too young. We can only guess how long he was on his own for and it is a miracle and testament to his health and strength that he survived.  

He was transferred yesterday to Cambodia's largest hospital in Phnom Penh. My Mum, an experienced nurse and his girlfriend travelled to Cambodia from England on Friday, a few hours after hearing of Charles' suffering.  

Although unconcious, Mum's first words to him last night made him cough and react. This has made us very hopeful.  He has since been using his eyelids to communicate with my Mum and his Girlfriend. 

Charles' is currently in a public government funded hospital and so the medical care is very limited.  Unfortunately transferring him to a private hospital in Phnom Penh will incur expensive daily charges, USD 2500 + a night, and the hospitals can be forceful in obtaining funds from family members. We are very fortunate with my Mum's medical background as we do understand that some are not this fortunate and their care can then go unregulated and often worsen with the limited facilities.  We are paying USD 400 a night for this care. 

My Mum is very concernced about Charles' well-being. Ideally, we would like to repatriate Charles to the UK. 

We understand that Charles did complete a travel insurance prior to travelling. However, we have since found out that Charles extended his travels by several months to take in Cambodia, but, his travel insurance was NOT extended. We do not yet have complete insight, however we believe it is highly unlikely that there is an insurance policy in place.  

As yet, we still cannot access any of his bank information. His bank has told us that we can only gain information and access with Charles' permission, which he is obviously unable to grant in his current comatose state, or, by providing his death certificate. We are in the process of applying for Deputyship with the Court of Protection, we hope to have this by early/mid next week. 

Although initially helpful in sending a junior rep out once to visit the hospital with my Mum, the British Embassy in Phnom Penh have not been in touch with Mum since, and, are not answering her calls.

The Foreign Office have not been in touch with us since I called them Saturday morning to ask for an emergency loan given our extremely difficult circumstances, a loan that my Mum would pay back after remortaging her house. They refused.

We are a standard British Family, just like any other Family. Yet, the British Government expect us to deal with a highly complicated and extremely serious medical emergency 6280 miles way all on our own. 

We would like to emphasise that all scans, treatments, ambulance; everything done, is going to come as much as possible right out of our own pocket. We are not wealthy.  

My Mum is remortgaging her house to pay for Charles's treatment.  

We have now received quotations for repatriation. These range from £ 35 000 to £ 105 000 and are subject too how able Charles is to be moved. 

Any amount of donation you could give would be amazing and very helpful.  In the event of us locating a travel insurance or enough savings to cover repatriation, we will gladly fully reimburse you for your donation. Anything would be most appreciated.