A Brit who broke his neck and was left unable to walk after falling out of a tree while on holiday in France is facing a huge medical bill, as he didn’t have travel insurance.
London-based Guy Evans travelled to the Loire Valley on April 19th with his brother, Stan Evans, to visit his dad at his holiday home.
The following day, Guy decided to help out in the garden and collect broken tree branches, so he climbed a ladder to retrieve them.
After collecting two of the branches, the 30-year-old reached out to grab a third, but overstretched, the branch broke, and he plummeted 10ft and landed on a stone wall.
The freelance copywriter was rushed to the hospital by ambulance, where doctors revealed he’d broken his C6 vertebrae, which is one of the vertebrae towards the top of the spinal column.
‘Very luckily, I’ve not severed the spinal cord, which apparently would be more or less curtains for me, so that’s still intact, which is the first bit of positive news,’ Guy said.
The day after the accident, Guy underwent a six-hour surgery where doctors reconstructed his C6 vertebrae by taking bone from his left hip, followed by a second operation a week later.
While Guy has since returned to the UK and is continuing to receive treatment at King’s College Hospital in Camberwell, his family is still trying to raise money to cover his medical bills in France, as he did not have any travel insurance.
Guy Evans, 30, broke his neck after falling out of a tree in France. He is pictured here with his girlfriend
Guy has since returned to the UK and is continuing to receive treatment at King’s College Hospital in Camberwell
His younger brother Robbie Evans set up a GoFundMe to help pay for his treatment and repatriation back to the UK, which has already raised more than £102,000.
Guy, from Camberwell, said: ‘I’m a foolish, foolish boy.
‘We started this page, and I think we hit the target within six hours, which is absolutely mind-blowing.’
While some of the money covered his repatriation, the rest is needed to cover his medical costs in France and will also go towards supporting Guy’s ‘long road to recovery and beyond, including finding him a suitable place to live should he not be able to recover in full,’ according to the GoFundMe.
It added: ‘This process is unfortunately an extremely expensive one, and we are now asking for your support as we look to give him the best possible chance of recovery.
Guy, who is unable to walk yet, has begun to regain some movement in his arms and hands.
He is now undergoing rehab at the South London hospital, while he waits for a place in a rehabilitation centre.
‘You always think that these things won’t happen to you,’ he said.
