A British woman left unable to walk after falling off a hotel balcony while on holiday has returned home after a successful fundraiser drummed up £75,000 in donations.
Maddi Neale-Shankster, 21, was loving life on her three-week trip to the country with her partner when she fell from the second floor of her accommodation on New Year's Eve.
The Coventry-native suffered a broken back, broken ribs which pierced her liver and two collapsed lungs after falling 60ft, on what has been described as a dodgy “low wooden bannister rail”.
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Her insurance company reportedly refused to pay the bill so her family and friends managed to raise £75,000 to bring Maddie back from Ko Pha-Ngan island – and she is now safe in the UK where she will continue her rehabilitation.
Her mum Karen said that Maddie made a mistake with her insurance. "Maddi took holiday insurance while in Thailand for 10,000 baht (£247).
"She thought it was £10,000… I'd hate for anybody to be in this position."
The fundraiser is for "all hospital fees, repatriation and transportation costs back to the UK".
At the time of the accident, Karen explained: “The prognosis isn’t good as she has fractures to her spine and has needed drains to her chest to remove the blood and water which will be there for at least three days.
“There’s a chance she may never walk again – it’s devastating.”
The family were looking to raise £73,500 to bring her home using special medical equipment.
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After hitting the target, the family wrote on Maddi's GoFundMe: "So today we wanted to make everyone aware that we have reached the target set and now have more than enough to cover all hospital fees, repatriation and transportation costs back to the UK.
"We have decided to turn off the donations for this reason.
"If you still wanted to help out directly there are several fundraisers taking place in Coventry which will go towards Maddi’s rehabilitation and help towards her living costs until she is hopefully able to walk and return to work.
"Once again we can not thank you all so very much for your generosity, we truly never expected this to happen so quickly and we are forever going to be eternally grateful."
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