Family struggles to bring Dublin man home
WASHINGTON — Weeks after a devastating crash in the Republic of Georgia, Zach Lawrence’s family is trying to bring him home to Dublin.
Lawrence, a 38-year-old startup consultant who was raised in Reynoldsburg, was in the eastern European state for a business conference when the car in which he was riding in from a fishing trip veered into a 50-foot-deep ravine on March 21. The car flipped repeatedly and hit a tree. Two of its five occupants were killed.
Lawrence, who was wearing a seat belt, broke all of his left ribs. He had internal bleeding. His nose was broken. And, more troubling, he sustained brain injuries, said his brother, David, who flew to Georgia with Lawrence’s father, Dave, and wife, Meghan, as quickly as possible.
Because of limited flights in and out of Georgia, that ended up being March 24. They dropped their bags at the hotel and quickly went to the hospital.
The culture shock mirrored their shock at what had happened. They worried that the hospital in Georgia would not be able to provide appropriate care for Zach Lawrence, and they couldn’t communicate with anyone in the hospital about his condition.
“The language barriers were quite a challenge,” said David Lawrence, who lives in Atlanta. “Literally, there was no way to get any information.”
So they decided to transport Zach Lawrence to a hospital in Vienna, Austria, where they felt he might get better care. They organized a transfer, but made a tactical mistake when a concerned loved one posted a private email about the hygienic conditions at the Georgia hospital. The family was surprised, for example, to smell cigarette smoke in the intensive-care unit. The message was posted
on a social media site for family members and friends checking on Zach Lawrence’s condition.
A Georgian newspaper writing about him included information from the social-media post. Almost immediately, the cost of transporting him from Georgia to Vienna skyrocketed to about $50,000. It previously was half that. And the family was told they had to pay in cash.
They were torn. Wiring that much money overseas is difficult, but “we felt it was a matter of life and death,” said David Lawrence. “And every day delayed his chances of survival.”
David Lawrence said he believes the hike in price was a result of offending the government. But the medical transport agency, he said, “did a fantastic job.”
A cousin put them in touch with the office of Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Upper Arlington, and the family also worked with Rep. Pat Tiberi, R-Genoa Township, their congressmen. Staff for both lawmakers reached out to the State Department in hopes of smoothing over the raw feelings.
“As a member of Congress, one of my most important duties is helping Ohioans communicate with the federal government,” Tiberi said. “When an emergency occurs abroad, I am able to advocate on behalf of individuals and families to the State Department. That is the case with Zach and his family. I am praying for his recovery and will continue to help the Lawrences every way I can.”
Staff for the two lawmakers worked with the U.S. embassy in Georgia.
“I was happy to be helpful,” Stivers said.
The family worried that getting the federal government involved risked inflaming the Georgian government further. They ultimately figured out how to get the money wired and paid for the transport. Zach Lawrence arrived in Vienna March 29. By that time, he had a bacterial staph infection and pneumonia. It wasn’t until April 5 that doctors declared the infections gone.
Now, said David Lawrence, “his body is getting better. He’s getting less assistance from the ventilator. He’s breathing mostly on his own. But his mind
is what we’re not quite sure about.”
So the family waits for Zach Lawrence to wake from a coma. They have had some encouragement; he seems to respond when they mention the things he loves: his wife; his son, Donovan, 4; a daughter, Adrianne, 6; the rest of his family; his beloved Buckeyes.
Their next step, they say, will be to pay for another medical transport to the United States. His family hopes to bring him to a center that focuses on head trauma and say that moving him to the United States would assure securing the long-term care he might need.
They’re hoping to move him as early as next week, but, again, will deal with the high cost of renting what is essentially a mobile intensive-care unit. The family has set up a crowd-funding website to help raise money for those expenses. As of Friday night, more than $175,000 of the $200,000 needed had been raised.
In the meantime, David Lawrence has returned to the States and his brother’s wife and father remain with him in Vienna.
“We look forward to seeing him every day. But it tears us up.”