British man, 22, suffers horrific brain injuries and is unable to speak or walk after falling off the back of a buggy while drunk on a lads’ holiday to Ayia Napa
- Andre Franco suffered catastrophic head injuries on a lads’ holiday to Ayia Napa
- He rented a buggy with three friends when the accident happened on May 21
- Andre cracked his head open, bled heavily and suffered major swelling to brain
- He has been unable to walk or talk since accident and it’s unclear if he ever will
- Andre will need specialist medical aviation to get back to London costing cost anywhere between £15,000 and £32,000
A British man has suffered catastrophic injuries after a buggy ride on a lads’ holiday to Ayia Napa went horribly wrong.
Andre Franco, 22, rented a buggy with three friends in the popular Cypriot party resort when the life-changing accident happened on May 21, which has left him unable to walk or talk since.
His mum Isabel Franco, 61, said the group had been drinking heavily before taking the vehicle out at around 6:30am local time.
Andre and a friend were both thrown off the back seat when the driver took a bend too fast.
While his friend only suffered scratches from the fall, Andre cracked his head open, bleeding heavily and suffering major swelling to his brain.
Andre’s godmother, Susana Costa, said: ‘The fine details are still a bit hazy because the boys he was with, they panicked.
‘They were inebriated, as you can imagine at that time in the morning in a place like that… they panicked, because they saw blood, and I think they just freaked out.’
Andre Franco, from Camden, north London, had rented a buggy with three other friends in the popular Cypriot party resort when the life-changing accident happened on May 21
Andre and a friend were both thrown off the back seat when the driver took a bend too fast
While his friend only suffered scratches from the fall, Andre cracked his head open, bleeding heavily and suffering major swelling to his brain
The men managed to call emergency services straight away, and Andre was rushed to a local hospital then transferred to Nicosia General Hospital the same night.
As Andre was taken to hospital, one of the boys called his mum in London to tell her what had happened. Isabel said she was too shocked to speak when she got the call.
Isabel said: ‘I don’t know the feeling. I think I had no feelings at all because I’m scared to have feelings. I didn’t panic, I was like stuck.
‘I just remember Susana was next to me, and I said: ‘Andre’s had an accident’, and then I passed the phone to her because I couldn’t talk.’
Isabel and Susana got the earliest flight they could to Ayia Napa along with Andre’s father, Carlos, arriving on the Sunday and heading to the hospital first thing on the Monday morning.
The women said they were terrified to see Andre after what the doctors had told them.
Susana said: ‘What we were told, you start to let your imagination run wild a little bit. So we pictured the worse case scenario, obviously, when we got there. We were expecting something horrible.’
Andre’s godmother said she and Isabel were actually relieved to see how ‘peaceful’ Andre looked when they arrived, since he had been sedated.
Andre, who used to work part-time in Urban Outfitters and play for Gospel Oak FC, has been unable to walk or talk since the accident.
He has undergone a series of major operations, including one to remove part of his skull to allow space for his brain to swell without pushing against the bone.
Although the initial shock wasn’t as bad as the two women had expected, it soon dawned on them that Andre might not make a full recovery.
Susana said: ‘At the moment the doctors are not telling us much because they don’t really know. At this point it’s touch and go.’
She said doctors were being ‘very reserved’ about any prognosis until Andre’s brain swelling has reduced.
But his mum and godmother say they have some cause for hope. Last week Isabel received a call from the hospital to say Andre was becoming more active.
Susana said: ‘Even though he’s still intubated and on and off he’s animated, moving his legs, arms, his body. But it’s still early days to know for sure.’
‘We’ve asked him questions, he shakes his head for ‘no’ and nods for ‘yes’. We’ve asked him some random questions, just about us, ‘do you know who we are?’ We make jokes.
‘We’ve seen some expressions in his face which could be classed as a smile I suppose. I don’t know if it’s just wishful thinking or what it is, but he does answer us, yes or no.’
The men managed to call emergency services straight away, and Andre was rushed to a local hospital then transferred to Nicosia General Hospital the same night
He has undergone a series of major operations, including one to remove part of his skull to allow space for his brain to swell without pushing against the bone
The women call the hospital twice a day for updates, as they are only allowed to visit twice a week. They said the anxiety of waiting between visits has been hugely stressful.
The costs are racking up, too. Isabel and Susana have to pay Euro 50 each for a PCR test each time they go to the hospital, and for a cab to get there since public transport in the area is poor.
Andre will need specialist medical aviation to get back to London, which Susana says could cost anywhere between £15,000 and £32,000, depending on whether he recovers enough to be able to sit up for take-off and landing.
Isabel has set up a GoFundMe page to help raise the money to get Andre home.
She said two of the boys he was on holiday with have been incredibly ‘distressed and supportive’ since the accident, texting her every other day, and one of them has donated a huge sum of money to the page.
Susana said: ‘We understand that they are young kids and they do stuff like that.’ Isabel added: ‘We just want to get him home.’
Click here to donate to the fundraiser.
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