A Palmerston North man is in a coma in a Vietnamese Hospital after a motorbike accident cracked his skull.
Mark Lockwood moved to Vietnam six years ago, and lives in Nha Trang with his wife and three-year-old son. He's run a bar and restaurant called Kiwi Bar there for the last year.
On November 14 (local time) Mr Lockwood was involved in a serious crash. He was first taken to a local hospital then to a better-equipped facility in Ho Chi Minh.
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Doctors told his family he had a 60 percent chance of surviving the eight-hour transfer, which he did.
Since then his family has paid NZ$365 per day for his medical costs, and has set up a Givealittle page to crowdfund the cost of simply keeping him alive. The hospital demands money up front before he receives treatment.
"Mark has no insurance to cover his medical costs, and unlike New Zealand there is no free healthcare or ACC [in Thailand]," the page description reads.
They've been told Mr Lockwood isn't stable enough to be operated on, and want to fly him home to be seen by Kiwi doctors, Stuff reports. However that could them cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, as he'd need an entire section of the plane to fit his medical equipment and doctors.
"It is too early to know what impact the accident has had, but if he comes out of the coma it's likely he will need many months of rehabilitation to get his body and brain to function as well as it can after the accident," the Givealittle page reads.
In two days the page has raised more than $3000, which will go towards hospital bills and rehabilitation - or to support Mr Lockwood's wife and son if he doesn't survive.
Newshub.
