A British holidaymaker who suffered an horrific moped crash in Bali last year, that left him requiring loads of surgery, and a painful and expensive recovery process, is attempting to raise funds to help him cover his extensive dental surgery and other costs.
Twenty-six-year-old Ryan Pike, from Weston-super-Mare, was left fighting for his life in a hospital on the Indonesian island, before it was later discovered at a UK hospital that bleeds on his brain had left him a 'ticking time bomb',
Pike was forced off the road and into a concrete wall in a ditch when a car overshot a corner as he was riding in convoy with his fellow holidaymakers.
That was the first day of his trip, and the end of it. He spent two agonising weeks in a hospital where many staff couldn't speak English well, on a cocktail of drugs and often in a great deal of pain.
On 25 August 2019, Ryan was forced to take evasive action to avoid the car. He then ended up in hospital with five plates in his skull, and requiring extensive facial and dental reconstruction surgery.
He's even been told that he was pulling his own teeth out of his head while in the back of the ambulance, according to The Daily Mirror.
He told the newspaper: "There's a crack down my mandible and I'd pushed my upper jawline up into my nose,
"As you follow my teeth, it kind of raises up in the middle. So I buried my jaw up into my nose and my jaw where it connects to my skull on both sides had ruptured.
"I had bruised lungs, broken my wrist, mangled my coccyx - my rear end essentially was in pieces, cut up - [I'd] got lacerations all over my body."
He continued: "When you're there, all that was going through my mind was, the people around me, I couldn't let them know the pain.
"I couldn't let them know that obviously everything is turned upside down, so you have to be positive, you have to get up, there is no point in dwelling either. You're going into surgery or you're dying - one of those you have to get it over with but because I was on so many drugs, it was hard to process.
"Throughout all of this, once the adrenaline stops your body comes to terms with the injuries, so your cognitive function takes away from main functions, it just focuses on healing, so I'd forgotten how to talk, I forgot how to walk."
The road back was a tough one. His partner Hazel slept on the floor next to his bed for two weeks, but he also had to learn to walk again and lost three stone in weight.
Now, he needs help to pay for the medical treatment he needs. His £8,000 savings are gone, but he's been told it will cost at least £50,000 to fix the problem entirely.
He has struggled to come to terms with the crash, but has now finally relived it with his friends.
He added: "You reject it. Because I was so used to looking in the mirror and seeing that guy and for someone else to be looking back is utterly... your brain just doesn't fathom it.
"My perspective has completely changed on life. It teaches you, it's a massively humbling experience.
"I know there's a lot going on in the world right now, but it reminds you that you are exactly the same as the person next you.
"You are no different in that something could be taken away from you just as anything could be taken away from them."
"It makes you really value what's important and makes you drop that which is not important.
"It's made me a lot more career driven, I want to achieve more in my career now. I want to go and see more of the world and be more adventurous.
"Whereas before I was in my shell a little, I've gone the opposite, in that you go, 'You've only got a certain amount of time.'"
If you want to help Ryan out, and he's donating half to the NHS as well, you can donate here.
Featured Image Credit: Ryan PikeTopics: World News, UK News