The mother of a critically-injured British backpacker told how the family remains ‘desperate’ for help – as they face having to raise £170,000 to fly him home from Thailand.
Tiger Duggan’s relatives have already spent nearly £120,000 in nine days on hospital bills and an internal flight for him to be moved to a hospital in the capital, Bangkok.
The family are ‘hugely grateful’ after well-wishers donated over £180,000 since the 23-year-old was involved in a motorcycle accident on Sunday February 1 – yet the money is being used up quickly.
Tiger’s mother Lisa Duggan, a neonatal nurse from Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, said his travel insurance company is refusing to pay out.
Meanwhile, the UK government has offered no practical help.
Lisa and husband Kieron, who are at Tiger’s bedside with other family members including brother River, said the Foreign Office’s only contact has been to send a general email with links to online advice pages.
Lisa said: ‘We’d already found those when we did a Google search on repatriation at the beginning.
‘There’s been no phone call, no personal email, no one has reached out to offer us anything.’
Tiger, who was working in a ‘dream job’ for a gold mining company in Perth, Western Australia, before going travelling with a friend in January, remains in critical condition with severe head injuries – but the family received a boost yesterday after he had a brain scan.
Lisa said: ‘He had a scan on his brain which showed signs of life. He’s also no longer on medication to support his blood pressure. This is all good news and we continue to remain hopeful.’
She added: ‘We’re looking at a very, very long journey with months and months of ongoing treatment and tests.’
The immediate concern is the cost of treatment, as the family do not yet know when he will be stable enough to be safely flown back to Britain.
Tiger is at the Med Park Hospital in Bangkok, where Lisa and Kieron, who works as a plumber, say his care has been ‘amazing’ – however the ongoing cost to the family is £2,500 a day.
The couple say they are ‘hugely grateful’ for the public support they have received.
But the failure of the insurance company to pay out – on the grounds Tiger was engaged in a ‘dangerous activity’ – means they remain ‘desperate’ for funds to cover ongoing treatment and the repatriation flight, which could cost £150,000 to £170,000.
Lisa – who earlier today managed to give her son a first ‘big hug’ since his move from a small island hospital to Bangkok – has also made a plea to the UK government to step in.
‘We know they have arranged repatriation in other cases,’ she said.
A family spokesperson told the Daily Mail: ‘His parents are not giving up and are willing to fight tooth and nail to get him the help he needs.
‘They are so grateful to everyone who has donated, shared or prayed for Tiger.’
She added: ‘Lots of young people are unaware of clauses in insurance policies particularly relating to dangerous activities abroad. I really hope the publicity has gone a long way to highlighting this issue for parents and young people.’
A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesperson said: ‘We continue to support the family of a British man injured in Thailand.’
Visit www.gofundme.com/f/ncqg5-please-help-an-angel-in-need to support the family.
