Brit backpacker stranded in Thai hospital with broken neck may never walk again

A British backpacker is stranded in a Thai hospital after breaking her neck – and may never be able to walk again.

Sophie Wilson was just a week into her dream six month tour of Asia when she got injured diving into a shallow swimming pool, hitting her head and breaking her neck in two places.

The coffee shop manager, 24, was rushed to hospital where she was informed she would have to pay up to £60,000 for treatment and a flight back to the UK.

Miss Wilson’s insurers, Insure and Go, will not cover her plane home and her family back in Leicestershire are trying to fundraise, with her medical bills currently standing at £37,600.

The insurers have deemed the dive to be a ‘reckless act’, while the hospital would not operate on her until her family guaranteed to pay the surgery fees.

Her mum and dad, John and Jane, have rushed to the hospital in Chiang Mai to be by her side, the accident happening in Pai in the north of Thailand.

On the three hour trip to the hospital, she was not given any pain relief and spent most of the journey vomiting.

Currently she has just the use of one arm having had two surgeries in Thailand – with fears she will be paralysed for life.

She told iNews : "Initially I was in shock, I never had any reason to believe the pool to have been so shallow as people were jumping and diving in before me. I never lost consciousness.

"I couldn’t feel my body, just excruciating pain in my neck. I remember saying that I couldn’t feel my legs.

"It is heartbreaking as I previously led a very active life style and the doubt of whether I will be able to walk again is hard to take.

"But I believe that being negative will only make things harder. I’m lucky to still be here."

Sophie’s 25-year-old sister Georgina has set up the fundraising page, writing: "Sophie is one of the bravest women you could ever wish to meet and she is our little miracle.

"Our wish now is to get her home as soon as is physically possible, so that she can begin her rehabilitation programme to support the recovery process and be re-united with her loving family, after what has been the most challenging time of our lives."

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