Support for Bonnie’s medical bills

Hi, my name is Daisy. This fundraiser is to help with my sister Bonnie's medical bills. Last month (May 2024) Bonnie had a serious Moped accident in Thailand. To date she has had 7 surgeries and unfortunately was 2 weeks out of her Insurance policy. The current bill is over €140,000 and growing every day. Many of our friends and family have offered to help so we have set up this fundraiser. Any donation is very much appreciated from my family. It’s been a stressful and emotional time for us but the amount of support has been overwhelming thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We hope to be able to get Bonnie back to Ireland in the next few weeks to recover at home.

More details below:

Bonnie was in Koh Tao and met a guy who offered to drive her home on his Moped, on the journey he hit a fence and she fell off. Her roommate noticed Bonnie didn’t come home (she had Bonnie's phone) so went back to where they were the night before and saw her bike was still there. She started to get worried and went to the Koh Tao hospital to be told Bonnie had been at the hospital but had been helicoptered to Koh Samui hospital. She contacted me on Instagram on Friday (the accident happened on Thursday) and my parents were on a flight the next day.

When my parents arrived they were told she had a brain bleed which needed an emergency surgery and it was successful. She had a fractured spine and multiple large skull fractures. The staff were great but were very limited, my parents were concerned for her recovery as at times they would find her strapped to the bed so she wouldn’t move which was worrying. My parents organised an ambulance and moved her to a different hospital, here after five days of the accident they slowly found out more about her injuries:

Once they drained the blood from her chest they found a blood clot which needed to be removed. They didn’t have the expertise to do this so wanted to bring her on an 8 hour journey to the mainland. This was all very upsetting as she was not in a state to be moved for such a long journey so my dad suggested we fly the specialist in. She then had a 12 hour surgery with a team of people which included:

She was then moved out of ICU at 8am a few days later. By 6pm they knew something was wrong, there was an infection in her head and she was rushed into emergency surgery on her head.

We hoped that this was the final surgery but the never ending nightmare continued ….

Bonnie kept saying her wrist hurt so ten days after the accident they gave her an x-ray and saw it was broken and because it hadn't been setting she needed another surgery to re-break it and set it properly.

I then flew out to help as she had now been moved from ICU but a family member needs to stay 24 hours with her. On my second last day we were told the infection still wasn’t cleared so she went back in for another surgery. They removed part of her skull in her forehead so she now has no skull protecting her brain but this was the last resort. They also removed the bracket that was supporting her eye socket so we aren’t quite sure of the long term effect. She won’t be able to do much for the next six months to protect her brain and will need surgery in another six months to put a plate there. We have also been told by the doctors, she may also need cosmetic surgery as we are not sure how she will look….

I have now flown home due to work commitments while my parents stay in Thailand. She is still in hospital needing 24 hour family care. The infection still hasn’t cleared and they are monitoring it.

Bonnie has been bed bound for a month now and my parents have been there since the accident. She is making improvements - she can go to the bathroom herself, walk a small bit and when I left she was eating and sleeping more. We really hope they will be home in two weeks but hard to be optimistic as it’s one step forward two steps back.

I have set this up from the encouragement of some of my friends and Bonnie’s friends to help with medical bills. After about 7 surgeries (who’s counting) a month in hospital the bills are extortionate. Bonnie had insurance but she was two weeks out of the country more than she should have been. We have not heard anything from the guy driving the bike. It was an unfortunate accident that could have been worse, it's a miracle she's alive. It’s going to be a long road to recovery but we are optimistic she’ll be fine with time. I know a lot of people have reached out asking if they could help and I think at the moment getting Bonnie home is the main concern and then the financial bills. Thank you again for all the support.