Thousands of pounds have been raised to bring home a North Yorkshire man after he recently suffered a massive brain haemorrhage while abroad.
Brod Sutcliffe, 64, has worked across the world in various roles in the oil and gas industry for more than 30 years - calling some of the most far-flung locations 'home' and meeting new people along the way.
But during his most recent excursion to Indonesia for consultancy work, Mr Sutcliffe collapsed with a brain haemorrhage on November 3 and was rushed to the A & E Department of Siloam Hospital in Jakarta.
After undergoing life-saving surgery to remove a large blood and malignant tumour, the 64-year-old, who has been battling three primary cancers for the last few years, is starting to recover from his surgery - but the issues faced by him and his family continue.
Despite having very expensive medical insurance with a well-known global provider, the fact that doctors found a germ cell tumour in his brain when operating on him, makes the situation 'complex' and has led friends and family to turn to crowdfunding as his wife was forced to settle his entire medical bill before he could be discharged from hospital to home care.
In just six days, through GoFundMe, Brod's wife Alison and her friend Mark Metcalfe have raised over £17,000 - a figure that will help with 24-hour medical care while he's still in Indonesia and continued care when he's back in the UK.
But Mr Metcalfe, who has known Brod for six years after meeting at a running club in Jakarta, has said that there are also further complexities, given that Mr Sutcliffe's wife Alison is having to navigate across Indonesia alone, as well as having to think about his future care once the couple is home in Grewelthorpe, near Ripon.
Mr Metcalfe said: "There is a lot of pressure at the minute on Brod and Alison, given the insurance element of this. I've never turned to crowdfunding before, but we've had little option.
"Brod knows a lot of people and people have been generous with the fundraising so far - it's been overwhelming with how much has been raised.
"The last three weeks has seen a massive amount of stress put on Alison - she's had to deal with travelling to Indonesia, answering insurer questions and also being there for her husband as well as preparing his meals daily."
It's expected that if all goes to plan, Mr Sutcliffe will be able to leave Indonesia on December 4 and return to the UK - due to airlines’ rules of stroke victims having to wait a minimum of three weeks following discharge from hospital.
From there, Mr Sutcliffe will fly into Newcastle, before going to St James’s University Hospital in Leeds to be examined by his NHS medical teams and eventually back to North Yorkshire to recover at home if his rehabilitation is successful.
The haemorrhage has left Mr Sutcliffe unable to speak and completely paralysed down his right side - but he is making progress day by day, according to his friend Mark Metcalfe.
Mr Metcalfe added: "Given that he suffered such a medical episode a few weeks ago, he's comfortable - but it will take a while to recover, he'll need physiotherapy and speech therapy to try and get him to return to normal not to mention continued treatment for his cancers.
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"The fundraiser will help care for Brod - it was the right thing to do to raise the money and I was always going to help.
"It's heartening to see that with every donation, he smiles a bit more. You mention the names of people that have donated and he gives a little smile of appreciation - it makes it all worth it.
"I'd like to think that if something like that happened to me - people would rally around like they are doing for Brod."
To donate to Brod's fundraiser, visit the GoFundMe here.
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