Mia is recovering in a US hospital
(Picture: GoFundMe)A British student who nearly died after being thrown 15 feet in the air in a bison attack may be left stranded in the US after her health insurance allegedly said it would withdraw support.
Mia Dean, 19, was hiking in South Dakota during her gap year when the bison attacked, tearing the femoral artery in her left thigh, on June 16.
Her parents, Matthew and Jacqueline, launched a £140,000 fundraiser to help pay for specialist care after her insurance provider only paid for her initial treatment.
They say that the insurer has refused to pay for “even the initial examination” of complex nerve damage Mia suffered in the attack, which has left her with paralysis and limited mobility below the knee.
“We are beyond fortunate that our daughter is still breathing, as she should have bled out in 2-8 minutes after the severed artery and the ambulance didn’t arrive for 20 minutes,” they said.
“It is a miracle that she is alive today.”
The teenager, from Surrey, was originally treated at South Dakota’s Rapid City Hospital, but relatives planned to take her to the specialist Mayo Clinic to give her the “best chance to regain control of her foot.
However, in an update, her parents said that the insurance company “has given us an ultimatum: to fly Mia home by air ambulance this weekend, after which they will withdraw funding for her case”.
The decision means the family is to either fly home to Brockham in Surrey on an insurance-funded air ambulance this weekend, with no doctors giving her the green light for such a journey, or stay in the US where she will receive “world-class specialist treatment in the peripheral nerve field”, but without health insurance.
“It’s gutting, but we have to do what is best for Mia’s recovery with so little hard information available,” they said.
“We understand that she will need complex nerve grafts and possibly more than one surgery.”
The fundraiser has so far hit more than £63,000 of their £140,000 target.
Describing how the incident unfolded, Mia’s parents said that she was “shocked into stillness” as the bison began towards her, before it halted directly in front of her.
“The two staring at each other for a few seconds before the bison surged forwards, gorging her in the left thigh with his horn, and throwing her head over heels about 10-15 feet in the air,” they recalled.
“When she hit the ground Mia was trapped, unable to move her bleeding leg, with the bison huffing directly over her, his feet by her head for some time, and continued to stand near her for some time before Mia’s friend managed to lead him away.”
