Five months of hell may soon be over for 47-year-old Michael Christensen.
Christensen has spent the last five months in a local hospital in the Philippines in critical condition following a motorcycle accident that shattered his rib cage and left his heart exposed. With no insurance, there was no way of bringing him back to Denmark.
But after reading about Christensen’s situation in The Copenhagen Post in November, Janne Tholstrup decided to do all that was in her power to help him.
READ MORE: Who will help Michael in the Philippines?
Facebook to the rescue
Tholstrup, 40, created a fundraising group on Facebook called ’Kan vi sammen få Michael hjem fra Filippinerne?’ (Can we together bring Michael back from the Philippines?) even though she had never met him.
“I just couldn’t bear to see this man suffer. What if it had been my own son lying there without any hope? Someone had to do something to help him,” she said. “But then I realised that I had to take action or no-one would.”
The Facebook group now has more than 3,000 followers and has already raised 290,000 kroner, putting Tholstrup only 70,000 kroner away from reaching the 360,000 kroner it costs to cover all expenses for a transfer to a Danish hospital.
The fund will pay for the assistance organisation SOS International to bring Christensen on a plane back to Denmark and get him the medical treatment he needs, unless his condition is too critical for him to be moved.
No guarantees
“SOS International needs to pay for doctors to stabilise him to make sure that he can travel,” Tholstrup said. “If the rescue team isn’t able to bring him home, the plane tickets won’t be refunded and we won’t be able to raise all that money again.”
There are currently three Danish nationals and some local nurses taking care of Christensen, who is too weak to move or even speak.
“They say that his condition varies,” Tholstrup said. “Sometimes he’s feeling really bad and he’s still unable to speak. But he seems to be getting better as he begins to sense an end to his suffering.”
If any of our readers want to help Tholstrup in her work to get Christensen home, they can make a donation here:
Mobilepay 61 65 88 75
Bank transfer: Reg. no: 0679, account no, 0746797575
