Coma victim Philip Pain flies home from Mexico
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A former Dartford student who plunged
seven storeys from a hotel balcony has been flown home to the
UK.
Philip Pain, 20, underwent many
operations at the Sharp hospital in Mazatlan, Mexico, after falling
from the balcony while on holiday on New Year’s Eve.
The former Dartford Grammar School
pupil was left in a coma, and a campaign set up - spearheaded by
his brother and sister – for blood donors. Philip has rare type-O
negative blood, and the Facebook campaign by Lawrence and Stephanie
helped save his life.
Now Philip is back in the UK, and his
mother Sally said she’s delighted: "I feel relieved to be home
because it was an absolute nightmare going through what we went
through and being stuck in Mexico – although the people out there
were absolutely brilliant to us.
"Strangers that we’d never met before
offered to help with lifts and accommodation and food. They were
really genuine about it."
But she said even getting home at the
weekend was fraught with difficulties. Two flights totalling 14
hours proved uncomfortable for the Bexleyheath student.
Audio: Sally Pain speaks
about the moment just before her son's balcony plunge
Sally said: "The first connection was
an hour and a half, and he had to sit fairly upright in a normal
seat, which was quite uncomfortable. The second flight was business
class, so it was better."
A doctor travelled from Mexico, to
help look after Philip, and administer sedatives or
painkillers.
Now he is getting treatment in King’s
College Hospital, London, but faces a long recovery. After the
coma, he even struggles to talk and has only partial movement in
his upper body. Doctors should soon be able to say what
physiotherapy he needs, but he is likely to be in hospital for
weeks.
He still has no memory of the
incident, after a New Year’s Eve party with friends and their
parents.
Monday, February 08 2010
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