The heartbroken daughter of a tourist left fighting for his life after a 30ft balcony fall has made an emotional plea for his safe return to the UK. Daisy Boyle, eight, said in the touching message to her dad Dan Boyle 'I really miss you, Daddy. I want you home'.
Dan, 31, from Stockport, was rushed to a hospital in Lanzarote in late April when he fell from his third-floor hotel balcony while on holiday with his girlfriend, Ashleigh Lomas, 30. It's thought his lungs filled with fluid because of a chest infection which made his heart stop beating and then made him tumble over the balcony.
He suffered a fractured skull, a fractured breast bone, a torn kidney and broke his ribs in the horror plunge. New photos released by his family show Dan lying in his hospital bed, in a neurological ward, surrounded by masses of life-saving equipment.
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Doctors only later discovered the dad-of-two had undiagnosed pneumonia and he was then placed in an induced coma. Dan, who lives with his family in in Hillgate, but is originally from Offerton has since woken up and although he's largely unresponsive, Daisy recorded a personal message for him that her mum Ashleigh found on his phone.
Ashleigh said: "She basically sent him a video message, not knowing I had his phone. She said, 'Hi Daddy. I hope you're doing ok in hospital. I really miss you. Don't worry, we're going to find the funding to get you home with everybody'.
"She also told him what she had done at school with swimming that day, and then she said 'I really miss you, Daddy. I want you home'."
Ashleigh said her family are still trying to raise £33,650 to fly him back to the UK on a medevac aeroplane and described the past few months as a 'living nightmare'. She also shared pictures of their kids Daniel, three, and Daisy with matching stencil arm drawings bearing the words 'daddy', as they try to raise awareness of his cause.
Ashleigh went on: "It’s been an absolute nightmare, a living nightmare. I would never wish something like this to happen to anybody, let alone ourselves.
"At the moment he’s been out of sedation for a full week. He's classed as being in a vegetative state but obviously, he's got time to come out of it.
"His eyes are open. His mouth is moving. He's moving his arms and his legs, but he's just not following commands when asked to do things.
"It's just literally a waiting game. But there are no other things wrong at the moment. Everything is fine with him. We just need to get him home and around his family so he can hear familiar voices."
The couple, who have been together for 12 years, arrived at the island, off the coast of West Africa, on April 23. The accident happened the following day, with Ashleigh saying the couple were 'laughing and joking' just half an hour before.
She said: "He was perfectly fine. We were in the pool together half an hour before, laughing and joking.
"He had a little cough but we didn't think it was anything. It wasn't a constant cough, it was just a little one, so you obviously wouldn't think anything of it."
Doctors have told Ashleigh they think Dan will have 'really bad' damage to his brain, but they know the full extent until he is fully awake. He will also need to take the specialist flight home, which is not covered by their insurance.
Dan's step-mum, sales manager Paula Boyle, 42, said she had decided to sell her engagement ring to help get him back to the UK. She added: "For me personally, it’s just a necessity. It’s a material object.
"It was about £2,000 when it was bought ten years ago, but what can an engagement ring give me when we can possibly get him back to his family? I’m not bothered because we care more about Dan than my engagement ring.”
Ashleigh, a barmaid, is desperately raising money for the medical evacuation flight so he can 'get the care that he needs' in the UK.
She said: "It would mean everything for him to come home, everything would be so much easier for everybody. He will be able to be around people who he knows and get the care that he needs."
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