DESPERATE BID TO BRING LEE, 18, HOME

Ulster family’s funding appeal over brain injury in hols horror

A TEENAGER is being treated in hospital after suffering a head injury on holiday.

Lee Haughian, 18, was with a group of friends in Greece last week when he was injured on a night out, suffering a bleed on the brain.

His distraught mum Annmarie jetted out on Friday and has been by her son’s bedside since and is now trying to raise money to get him home after being told he could not fly.

Last night the mum of three from Lurgan, Co Armagh, said it was her mother’s instinct which told her something was not right with her son and she tried to contact friends.

When she did get in touch she was told her son had been taken to the medical centre before returning to his hotel.

Annmarie said: “Lee went to a cocktail bar and a group of English boys were fighting and he tried to break it up but as he was going into the bar one of the bouncers pushed him to the ground and knocked him unconscious.

“Lee was taken to the medical centre in Malia but after that I don’t know much about what happened in those hours but when I called the hotel they were fantastic and got him to a hospital in Greece. An MRI showed he had a bleed on the brain and a fractured skull, he was very sick.

“The doctor came round today and said he would not be able to fly for a month, they said due to the pressure of flying and with his injury he is just not fit for it.

“We could go by boat but it would be a while before Lee would be strong enough to do the journey, it would be long and difficult moving him from ship to ship.

“A woman from the embassy has kept in contact and said it would cost over €1,000 each. My other son is flying out because it is so traumatic for me.

“It is so hard, the language barrier makes communication difficult, he was in the neurology ward but no one speaks English, there are a few broken words. It’s very hard, it’s scary.”

Already the community has raised more than £3,000 for the family in their time of need and Annmarie said she was overwhelmed by the support of the community for her son, a former pupil at St Ronan’s College in Lurgan. She added he will hopefully make a full recovery.

To find out how you can support the family and help get Lee home visit www. gofundme.com/6cc2x6-help-for-lee.

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