Kiwi in coma ‘making progress’

A Wellington man fighting for his life in a Bangkok hospital has opened his eyes.

Paul Lupi, 28, known as P J, was in a serious scooter accident in Phuket last Monday, and had been in a coma since.

But he had begun to make gains, his brother Joe Lupi said from Wellington yesterday. ‘‘His kidney is stable and is repairing and functioning normally and his eye socket is not as bad as previously thought. He’s still in a coma, but he’s opening his eyes and his motor skills are improving. The doctors are really, really happy that he’s making progress this quickly.’’

PJ’s business partner, Harvey Frame, said he had made the first step towards waking up. ‘‘Paul is breathing on his own 80 per cent of the time now but still requires to be ventilated. If he continues to recover as he is doing he will be off the ventilator within seven days and then cleared to come home.’’

Meanwhile, PJ had a visitor on Saturday night who dropped a collection of gifts for the Wellington man. One was a small stuffed penguin that the family had named Penelope, or Penny for short. ‘‘It sits in PJ’s arm to give him some female company,’’ Joe Lupi said.

At the same time, PJ’s friends in New Zealand were working on their own gift.

‘‘His mates are creating a video diary of all of this so he can see how much everyone has done and how much everyone loves him,’’ Joe Lupi said. ‘‘He deserves it, though, he’s the most generous, happy guy.

‘‘Life to him was a fun thing, nothing to him was ever very serious. You miss that. But I know it’s gonna come back with a vengeance.’’

Lupi was not covered with travel insurance. His family put up $50,000 of their own money to have him airlifted to Bangkok’s Bumrungrad International Hospital. A fundraising page set up to cover his care and transport home, reached its $150,000 goal on Friday night.