Couple's holiday disaster as man breaks neck on birthday trip
A couple’s overseas holiday has gone from the “time of their lives” to a “nightmare” after a terrible accident while they were at the pool.
Richard Budi and his girlfriend Simona Malarova had travelled to Magaluf on the Spanish island of Majorca to celebrate Mr Budi’s 26th birthday, but he broke his neck when he jumped into the water.
Mr Budi was rushed into surgery and put in critical care, and is now lying in hospital breathing through a tube.
“His lungs are very weak and he can not breathe on his own,” Ms Malarova wrote online.
“He is able to move his head and his shoulders but cannot move or feel from his chest down to his feet.”
Ms Malarova says her boyfriend was put in critical care without travel insurance or a European Health Insurance Card.
She is now asking for help as she is desperately trying to get Mr Budi home to the UK, so he can receive the medical support he needs.
“The hospital (Son Espases, Majorca) that we are in now does not have the machines and cannot give him the treatment he needs to help him. “
It is estimated that transportation and medical treatments the 26-year-old needs will cost about $35,500.
“Doctors in Son Espases hospital in Palma, Majorca have given permission for Richard to go on the 26th of July back home to get the medical assistance that he needs, however we do not have the sufficient funds to get Richard into a hospital in UK in a air ambulance,” Ms Malarova wrote.
Well-wishers have been helping the couple, with a gofundme page raising close to a third of the total needed so far.
