A mum left fighting for life after falling over on a dream holiday in Thailand is showing ‘good signs’ after being flown back to Australia for treatment.
Kylee Enwright, 48, arrived at John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle on Saturday night after she was flown home on a Thai Airways plane.
The mother-of-three, from Singleton in the Hunter Valley, stepped off a half-metre high balcony on the first day of her holiday in Khao Lak with her husband Paul on May 28.
The pair had been sipping cocktails before she tumbled and hit her head on the ground – suffering a catastrophic brain injury.
But Mr Enwright said the condition of the mum from Singleton, NSW has been ‘getting better’.
The mother-of-three from Singleton in the Hunter Valley, stepped off a half-metre high balcony on the first day of her holiday in Khao Lak with her husband Paul on May 28
Kylee Enwright (pictured), 48, arrived at John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle on Saturday night after she was flown home in the back of Thai Airways plane
‘The biggest improvement she’s had is her breathing tube has been taken out,’ he said in a GoFundMe update on Monday.
‘[She also] doesn’t have a deep brain injury.
‘It’s all around the outer edge. We took that as a good sign, but I’m no doctor.’
The crowdfunding page was set up to help the family pay for the whopping $200,000-plus expenses after Ms Enwright’s fall.
Because the couple had been drinking before the horror accident, their travel insurance company Cover-More refused to cover her expenses due to a clause about alcohol in their policy.
The couple’s bar tab showed nine Long Island iced teas and 14 beers ordered to their room number that day. But Mr Enwright has refuted the claim and says others may have added to their bar tab.
Ms Enwright was instantly knocked unconscious after the fall and was ‘bleeding from the head and ears’.
She was rushed to hospital and underwent six-hour emergency brain surgery to remove the left side of her skull.
The mother remained in an induced coma in Thailand with her husband and three children – who had flown into the country – by her side.
Ms Enwright (pictured, in hospital) was knocked instantly unconscious after the fall and was ‘bleeding from the head and ears’
‘She’s got no skull on one side of her head, so one small movement the wrong way and we could be right back where we started the first time,’ Mr Enwright told 7news this week.
‘You can see the pain in her eyes, you can see the frustration.’
The pair had been at the bar and decided to go back to their hotel room and get a massage before heading out to dinner.
But his wife first wanted to use the bathroom and upon returning she took a different route back to the bar.
Mr Enwright believes his wife assumed their was a step down from a wooden deck as she was heading back.
‘However there were no steps, and as she stepped off the deck her body dropped into nothingness, with the full momentum of her body sending her face first into the pavement below,’ he said.
Meanwhile, after returning to Australia she continues to receive care at the Newcastle Hospital
On Monday her husband said the staff at the hospital were ‘pretty happy’ with her progress.
They had put her feet and hands in restraints so she couldn’t harm herself.
And he said she had been trying to free her feet – which was a positive sign.
The mum (second right) just had her breathing tube removed in a ‘good sign’ for her long-term recovery after returning to Australia
Because the couple had been drinking before the horror accident their travel insurance company Cover-More refused to cover her expenses due to a clause about alcohol in their policy
‘There was some problem-solving skills going on there … that was an encouraging sign. She’s quite alert and awake, she just can’t communicate,’ he said.
Mr Enwright added he hopes she will leave ICU and start rehab soon adding doctors have told him the best recovery a brain injury can make is in the first three to 12 months after an accident.
‘We still have a long way to go, one day at a time … she will need more surgery in three to four months,’ Mr Enwright said.
This will involving replacing the place where the skull was taken away with a 3D printed titanium implant, he told the Newcastle Herald.
Meanwhile, the crowdfunding page had raised a whopping $219,651 by Tuesday which enabled the family to fly her back via the Medevac flight on Saturday.
Mr Enwright has thanked donors from ‘the bottom of my heart’.
