Woman breaks nearly every bone in face in Thailand

Jo Hoffman has been told she needs facial reconstruction surgery

A student is asking for help to pay her sister's medical bills, after she suffered a horrific accident while on holiday.

Jo Hoffman from Wolverhampton came off her hired scooter while in Thailand, smashing nearly every bone in her face.

She is currently in hospital in Koh Samui, where medical experts from Bangkok came out to try and help her.

She has since found out she is not covered by her travel insurance and her medical bills could reach £50,000.

The total required already stands at £35,000. Well wishers have raised about £11,000 in a bid to help.

Ms Hoffman, 28, who had worked in social care, had arrived in Thailand with her boyfriend early in December. She had been planning an extended trip and had hoped to go New Zealand later.

On 7 December the couple hired a scooter for a day's exploring, but it skidded on some sand in the road, her sister Geneva Hoffman said.

'Concrete floor'

Jo suffered severe injuries, despite the fact she had been wearing a helmet. She also broke four discs in her spine and has hurt her arm.

In her own words on a fundraising page she said nothing could have prepared her for the sheer force of the crash which flung her into the air and drove her face into the concrete floor.

"Neither of us lost consciousness but part of me wished I had," she wrote.

"Buzzing in my head, terror in my heart, blood dripping from every orifice imaginable yet I couldn't recognise my own voice."

She eventually got to hospital where she was told about her injuries and advised she needed emergency facial reconstruction and that her jaw may need to be wired shut.

"But time just ticked on as they vigorously checked travel insurance documents whilst I lay there waiting for treatment in agony," she wrote.

"My heart shattered when we were told that our insurance policies were invalid and my Amex card did not offer the protections I thought it did.

"I admit that I'm lucky to be alive but the mounting medical bills presented to me on a daily basis fill my heart with dread and fear as I know such a sum of money will take me a lifetime to repay."

'Remove the worry'

Geneva, who has set up the fundraising page, said her sister is a sensible person, a worrier and the sort of person who usually looks after everyone else.

She said her sister had got confused about what the policies protected her for and that her type of Amex card was not one that offered travel insurance as she had thought.

"There is not much we can do - other than try and fundraise and try and remove that worry from her," she said.

"I want to thank everyone for all the support we have received so far."

Jo's boyfriend was not as seriously hurt in the crash and is still in Thailand helping to look after her.