Bring Julie Home to NZ

09 Jun

A message from Julie

By Givealittle Admin

To all those who so generously helped me in my time of need: a heartfelt thank you and my deep appreciation for your caring and giving natures! I was amazed and so touched to learn of the help I received when I was awake and back on planet earth! I know New Zealand is special to me not only as my home but because of the people who make up our tiny nation. New Zealand was there for me when I didn't even know I needed it.

So thank you to each and everyone of you who showed such immense generosity, giving solely as an act of giving, your help is something I will never forget.

I am now out of the danger zone and the proud owner of a titanium skull so need no further assistance, the generosity I experienced through it all has taught me more than I could have ever imagined and I hope to be in a position to do as much good in the future. Thank you once again.

Julie Swinden

14 Apr

Julie's progress update

By Christine Devane

Well it’s time for another update on Julie’s condition for all of you kind folk out there who have helped to bring her back from Vietnam - and still we work towards achieving some normality for her.

A very kind Christchurch couple advanced the funds upfront to enable us to bring Julie back to New Zealand for some 24 hour nursing care and professional rehabilitation. It was not at all possible for me to bring Julie home any other way owing to her medical condition at the time as she could not go on a flight unless accompanied by a Doctor with the approval of Cho Ray Hospital in HCMC to travel and the approval of the pilot. The evacuation had to be for a “Hospital to Hospital” transfer owing to the seriousness of Julie’s medical status.

Medical Evacuations do not come cheaply, and we were very fortunate indeed to be in touch with a Christchurch Doctor (and her husband) working in Ho Chi Minh City who had gained approval to transport Julie on a commercial flight at a discounted SOS Intl rate. I thank everyone again sincerely for their donations to date however, there is still a significant shortfall in reaching the amount of those Medivac Costs associated with bringing Julie back home.

Julie spent a good month at the Burwood Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre recuperating in a more homelike environment with the expertise of all the great staff there to help with physical, emotional, and mental fitness programmes. Needless to say she was a star performer in all the language areas of the sessions…no speech problems for Julie and how fortunate she is to have all those faculties.

Physically Julie has moved forward and is regaining some level of fitness and health, which is good news indeed and helps in the overall recuperation process.

She is a very lucky young woman as she still has her intelligence and sense of humour intact as her injury was to the temporal lobe on the right hand side of the brain and also to some extent the frontal lobe area. Had the injury been to the left hand side of the brain, the results would have been very different in a language capacity. Julie is still very vulnerable out in the community however even though she feels she is “better”, and is looking forward to getting her teeth fixed and titanium plate fitted.

We have been advised that Julie will not be covered by ACC in NZ for any rehabilitation costs in the future owing to not having been in NZ for enough days prior to her last arrival date back into her own home country (as she has been working outside of NZ for an extended timeframe)…this means that any more costs involved for Julie’s missing teeth will also have to be funded privately

A serious note to all those young travellers and friends of Julie out there who are working overseas to take note that they should make sure they have the very best medical insurance cover in place that they can with their overseas employer…failure to do this can cause traumatic situations such as ours to turn into a financial nightmare for the families of the accident victim…..I would hate to think this situation would ever arise with anyone knowing and understanding what we have been through to date.

If any of you are contemplating the big OE then it is a wise move to ensure there is some trauma insurance cover on you. This would make a huge difference if some unforeseen event occurs to you while away overseas. The medical insurance you take out when travelling does not cover the rehabilitation costs back in NZ if you have not paid ACC premiums in NZ for a specified time period prior to re-entering the country again.

There is expected to be a long recovery period ahead as scar tissue builds up and only time and mother-nature can heal this for her. Julie is soon to have surgery again to have a titanium piece of skull shaped metal put back where the original skull bone was removed originally in Nha Trang – this had been removed to allow room for the then swelling brain. Once all the swelling has subsided and the scans show no abnormalities, then they are able to replace the missing bone. There is an excitement in having reached this step as it makes one look more normal again. That should be within the next week to ten days.

In the meantime, the key to recovery for Julie is rest, and more rest as the brain can only take a break when sleep arrives. Tiredness is not helpful for anyone involved in brain injury recuperation. This is an extremely difficult time for all concerned.

Fortunately I have great work colleagues, nice clients to talk with, supportive close family members and Brian to help me along….

The Trivial Pursuit box is out permanently now awaiting anyone willing take Julie on with the challenge of a game…..

Many thanks to you all

Diane Swinden

16 Mar

Julie's Progress

By Christine Devane

A note to update you all on how progress is going now Julie is back in Paradise.

Julie arrived back in NZ at the Christchurch Hospital on 18th February and was a bit affected for a couple of days from the long flight back during which sedation was required to get her calmed down and relaxed.

Unfortunately the first person she saw when she awoke in Ward 28 Neurology Dept was an Asian nurse who must have had a huge fright as apparently she screamed and panicked - she thought she had gone back to Asia or that it was all a dream...then the Doctor was called to try and calm her down but unfortunately for him he was also Asian and got a bit close. I believe he was sporting a bruise.

It was a full 30 hours before we could all convince her she was actually in Christchurch - all the Asian staff kept to the other side of the ward.

Once the few days of recuperation from the fight were over, she progressed physically at an amazing pace and had been cleared of any bugs but being a bolter of course, she had to have a 24 hour minder and the department had a challenging time with her.

The hand injury reared it's ugly head again and became infected once more and we discovered then that the ligaments from 2 fingers had been completely torn without repair.no wonder she had been in such agony when the hand was being continually squeezed to get shunts and injections into her..a course of mega antibiotics has cleared that up, with some robust physiotherapy happening now and a finger guard to straighten it working a treat.

So - with Hagley Park and the botanical gardens out the back door, walks all day everyday became the best therapy for her recovery in many ways. She left Ward 28 to go to Burwood Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit.

Since being there for she has continued to grow stronger daily now enjoying a workout with muscle building exercise involved - this of course helps use up her returning energy and become more balanced on both sides of the body. She is now getting her own breakfast and helping out with small chores...learning to write etc...that didn't take long and talking has never been a problem..

During a normal period of rehabilitation at Burwood, all areas of health are covered including assessments in all forms of brain activity, function, emotional, mental and physical states plus the speech and occupational therapy.

The latest head scan shows a great improvement to the swollen brain areas but there is a long way to go yet with the healing process and the realisation of the actual seriousness of the accident is only just sinking in now for Julie. She is regaining some more shorter term memories and that is great progress and she knows now she has to rest more for the healing to take place..

All in all things are looking up and the medical staff are confident of a
great recovery and a return eventually to her old self - she realises now just how lucky she is to be alive.her hair is starting to grow now and where the skull has been removed, it is getting more and more hollow - a good sign for recovery, but she is still too vulnerable to be out in the community on her own.

A titanium plate will cover the missing hand size piece of skull on her right hand side and her teeth are yet to be assessed fully. Advice is she will need surgery as there may still be some tooth lodged in her top lip and it is getting more painful each day...the scar tissue is not receding at all in this area and the bruising has affected her sinuses as well.so orthodontistry awaits.

This weekend she will have her first excursion out for the day as we are going to get out into the country for a picnic..lets hope it doesn't rain..

Diane Swindon

19 Feb

Julie is home!

By Christine Devane

The following is from Diane Swindon, Julie's mother:

The good news is that after a seemingly miraculous period of a few days where her condition improved rapidly, the International SOS Clinic were able to get approval for an evacuation flight back to New Zealand on a commercial flight escorted by a Doctor. A very kind soul has the lent the required funds upfront for the evacuation costs but these will need to be re-paid (the funds raised here will go towards the US$17,000 evacuation cost). 

Julie is now thankfully in a comfortable condition in Christchurch Public Hospital. The evacuation and flights home happened so quickly we barely had time to pack our bags.  We do ask that you allow privacy to Julie and her family as she now needs peace and lots of rest to ensure a good recovery.

I would like to extend personal thanks to several very kind people living in HCMC for giving me some 'time off', and to others in the expat community who offered help and support dealing with administrative issues required to make it a tidy exit with all things completed. One of the major problems had been with communication difficulties and special thanks goes to the young Vietnamese interpreter provided by MFAT for help in those situations. Thanks also to the NZ Embassy in Hanoi and the Consulate in HCMC for providing that important help on the ground and with the administrative side of Julie's return to NZ.

I am sure that when Julie has recovered sufficiently to think clearly and put pen to paper then she will offer her own follow up and special thanks to all who have helped along the way.  She has had clear moments when she has said that she is very amazed at the generosity of others.

07 Feb

Update on Julie's situation

By Christine Devane

To everyone that has shown their love and support for Julie,

I would like to say a big heartfelt thanks to all who have given to support Julie and her family through this Givealittle page so far. It is a wonderful thing to see so many people who care for her - and amazing to see such a great response to help someone in need. I know there are many who do not know Julie personally that have come to this page and have still felt compelled to give. I think that is because we can all relate to her situation in some way.

At this point, there are no concrete details to report other than that Julie is stabilising but her injuries are still very serious.

There are a couple of options for bringing her home that are being explored by her family together with the authorities in Vietnam and New Zealand. Of those that I am aware of, it could be a commercial flight with all the required medical staff to keep her safe and stable or a full medivac journey home. All options are going to mean massive cost to Julie and her family so your support via Givealittle is very much appreciated.

Nothing is certain just yet - but I have asked her family to keep me posted so that I can in turn update everyone here.

Be sure to add yourself as a supporter as I think these updates get automatically emailed to you.

Another quick bit of info, me together with my good friends run a charity called Capital Cause. Next Saturday (14th Feb) we will be putting on Capital Cause Bingo at the Southern Cross Garden Bar, Wellington at 12pm - all funds raised will be added to this page for Julie. You can check out the details here http://www.givealittle.co.nz/org/capitalcause/project/bingoforjulie.

If you are a Wellingtonian, or know people in Wellington, be sure to let them know about Bingo. Its a great couple of hours - playing Bingo like they do at your local rest home, in the sun at Southern Cross with a jug or two - all in support of a great friend of ours.

Thanks again

Christine

03 Feb

Dominion Post article

By Christine Devane

Read the Dominion Post published on Stuff today -