Bring our Jay home please..

I don’t really know where to start with this, but here’s our story…..

On Friday 25th February at 8.30pm UK time/Saturday 26th February 3.30am Thai time, our world fell apart.

Jay, a son, brother, father, boyfriend, grandson, nephew, and cousin, was hit by a drunk driver travelling at high speed. He was riding a motorbike and was not wearing a helmet. Due to the speed and force of the impact, of which his head took most of, he is in a critical condition.

Jay was taken by ambulance to the local hospital, Koh Samui International. He had emergency, lifesaving surgery due to a severe bleed on the brain, which was their main concern at that time. He has numerous fractures throughout his skull, face and body.

The doctors expected Jay to wake up within four to six hours following surgery, but he slipped into a coma. We are still sitting by his bedside, praying for a miracle 10 days later, but our hopes and prayers are going unanswered.

The British Consulate helped us secure emergency travel documents and passports so we could fly to Jay’s bedside. We were so uncertain of what was waiting for us in Thailand due to his ever-changing condition, complications and cultural differences.

Since the first operation, Jay developed a second bleed on the brain which stemmed itself and then, pneumonia. The first surgery has led to an infection in his brain which has spread into his blood stream and he has developed sepsis.

Jay has been intubated from the time of the accident until they performed a tracheotomy on Saturday 4th March, hoping that he would breathe for himself. Due to the swelling around the brain stem, affecting the part of his brain that controls his breathing, Jay was unable to breathe on his own and, at present, is on a ventilator which is breathing for him.

CT scans and continued tests show Jay’s brain function remaining minimal. There are infarctions throughout his brain and we have been told his prognosis is very poor. The difference here in Thailand to the UK is, by law, they have to carry on giving Jay care until there is no brain function evident, but we are praying it doesn’t come to that.

Jay’s medical bills currently stand at over £10,000. A medical EVAC to bring Jay back to the UK to receive any type of treatment, while he is unable to breathe by himself, has been estimated to be around £32,000. If Jay can breathe on his own, we have been advised we can bring him home for around £6,000.

These are the options if Jay can beat the infection.

The hospital staff have recommended that we go to the public for help and suggested #GoFundMe and have said they will support us with any paperwork, if you’re reading this and feel apprehensive about donating.

Jay was in Thailand chasing his dreams for the future. Jay is a much loved, fun loving, and often teasing, big brother. He is an avid #ManchesterUnited fan and watched the games whenever he could. He has been known to blast out an out of tune version of #TomJones ‘Delilah’ on the karaoke whenever he had the chance.

Jay is Manchester born and bred, still very connected with home, top of his playlist is #Aitch, the rapper from Moston, Manchester.

He was in contact with home often and always ended his calls with ‘I love you all the world big sausages’ and ‘I miss you.’

We are a hard-working family. We have borrowed and maxed out credit cards to be here with Jay, but we have nowhere else to turn, other than to beg for the generosity and kindness of family, friends and strangers to help us save our Jay.

We are asking for help to bring our boy home to #Manchester.

We are asking for help to pay Jay’s medical bills.

We are asking for help to sit by Jay’s bedside, so he is not alone while we hold his hand, and he fights for his life.

Thank you for reading this. Thank you for helping. Thank you for caring.

You never think something like this will happen to you and, as a family, we thought that too. If you can help, with whatever you can afford, our family will be very grateful.

As a family we appreciate any help you can offer in our darkest time of need, but as his baby sister, I am appealing to anyone and everyone to share this. Please X

#JAYBringhimhome