A young man has been left unable to walk or talk after falling from a buggy while on holiday in Cyrprus. Andre Franco was enjoying a break in sun-drenched Ayia Napa when he and three friends rented a buggy.
But Andre, 22, from Camden, North London, suffered life-changing injuries in the early hours of Saturday, May 21, when things went badly wrong. His mum, Isabel, 61, said the group had been drinking heavily before deciding to take the buggy out at around 6.30am that morning.
She said the driver took a bend too quickly and Andre and one of his friends were thrown off the back seat. His friend did not suffer serious injuries, but Andre cracked his head open, leaving him left bleedinh heavily and with major swelling to his brain.
Speaking on behalf of Isabel Franco, Andre's godmother, Susana Costa, told MyLondon: "The fine details are still a bit hazy because the boys he was with, they panicked. They were inebriated, as you can imagine at that time in the morning in a place like that... they panicked, because they saw blood and I think they just freaked out."
Andre's friends called the emergency services and he was taken to a local hospital before being transferred to Nicosia General Hospital. They contacted his mum back in London.
Isabel said: "I don't know the feeling. I think I had no feelings at all because I'm scared to have feelings. I didn't panic, I was like stuck. I just remember Susana was next to me, and I said, 'Andre's had an accident', and then I passed the phone to her because I couldn't talk."
Isabel and Susana got the earliest flight they could to Ayia Napa along with Andre's father Carlos, arriving on the Sunday and heading to the hospital first thing on the Monday morning. The women said they were terrified to see Andre after what the doctors had told them.
"What we were told, you start to let your imagination run wild a little bit," explained Susana. "So we pictured the worst case scenario, obviously, when we got there. We were expecting something horrible." Andre's godmother said she and Isabel were actually relieved to see how "peaceful" Andre looked when they arrived, since he had been sedated.
Andre, who used to work part-time in Urban Outfitters and play for Gospel Oak Football Club, has been unable to walk or talk since the accident and has had a series of major operations, including one to remove part of his skull to allow space for his brain to swell without pushing against the bone.
Although the initial shock wasn't as bad as the two women had expected, it soon dawned on them that Andre might not make a full recovery. "At the moment the doctors are not telling us much because they don't really know," said Susana, adding: "At this point it's touch and go." She added doctors are being "very reserved" about any prognosis until Andre's brain swelling has reduced.
But his mum and godmother say they have some cause for hope. Last week Isabel received a call from the hospital to say Andre was becoming more active. "Even though he’s still intubated and on and off he’s animated, moving his legs, arms, his body, but it's still early days to know for sure," said Susana.
She continued: "We've asked him questions, he shakes his head for 'no' and nods for 'yes'. We've asked him some random questions, just about us, 'do you know who we are?' We make jokes. We've seen some expressions in his face which could be classed as a smile I suppose. I don't know if it's just wishful thinking or what it is, but he does answer us, yes or no."
The women call the hospital twice a day for updates, as they are only allowed to visit twice a week. They say the waiting between visits is a source of anxiety for them. The costs are racking up, too. Isabel and Susana have to pay 50 euro each for a Covid test every time they go to the hospital and for a cab to get there, since public transport in the area is poor.
But these costs are nothing compared to the cost of trying to get Andre home. He will need specialist medical flight to get back to London, which Susana says could cost anywhere between £15,000 and £32,000, depending on whether Andre recovers enough to be able to sit up for take-off and landing.
Isabel has set up a GoFundMe page to help raise the money to get Andre home. She said two of the boys he was on holiday with have been incredibly "distressed and supportive" since the accident, texting her every other day, and one of them has donated a huge sum of money to the page. "We understand that they are young kids and they do stuff like that," said Susana, and Isabel added: "We just want to get him home."
