A boy of 15 suffered serious injuries when he fell through a glass door in a hotel in Turkey while on holiday.
Liam Staniforth-Burke, from Hattersley in Tameside, suffered severe cuts to his neck, stomach, hip and hands. He remains in hospital in Antalya where he has already undergone one operation.
But he didn't have travel insurance and now his family has launched a fundraising drive to pay for his medical bills, including a second op, so they can fly him home.
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Liam, a pupil at Alder Community High School in Gee Cross, flew to Turkey with family friends on Sunday night but suffered the horrific injuries when he fell through a glass door to the balcony of his room at Belpoint Beach Hotel and Spa in Antalya.
He was rushed to Akdenis university hospital for emergency treatment. His mother Steph, who wasn't with him, flew out to Antalya on Wednesday morning to be at his bedside.
Steph, 34, told the M.E.N: "He's gone into the hotel room and tried to open the door and fell through the glass. He stood up but he was in total shock. He was taken to reception and then straight to hospital.
"He lost a lot of blood. He's got a big cut from his ear to his shoulder. They did an operation on him up the wound with stitches. But they've done tests on him since and his mouth on the right-hand-side isn't moving and he needs another operation before they even start that.
"We need another £4,000 on top of the £1,600 the hospital has already charged.
"He's OK at the moment but he can't talk and he's not allowed to eat. He's not fully right at all."
Steph admitted her son did not have travel insurance and that the family friends who had taken Liam on holiday, who have known him since he was a baby, were 'devastated'.
Steph also had a message for people who take holidays abroad: "Make sure they take that travel insurance out. He defintely needs help so I can get my son back home."
She said her son would be left with a 'big scar'.
By Wednesday evening the family's gofundme page had already raised more than £1,600 towards its £5,000 target.
Earlier this month, the M.E.N. reported a couple were 'stranded' in Dubai amid a row over medical bills they said totalled more than £11,000. Katriona White, 54, fell seriously ill - leaving her unable to walk - after she and her husband Mick, 54, travelled to the United Arab Emirates from India where he had been working as a football coach.
The couple claimed they were assured by their travel insurers they were covered and would be reimbursed. They claimed they were told later they weren't covered because of a 'technicality'. Barclays insurance bosses said: "Our travel insurance documents and the annual eligibility statements are very clear that all trips must start and end in the UK and last no longer than 31 days."
An FCDO spokesperson said: “We are providing assistance to the family of a British national who is in hospital in Turkey”
