A professional skydiver with a passion for an extremely risky sport called speed flying, a combination of paragliding and snow skiing, has met a horrific accident – and without travel insurance to cover his mounting medical costs to boot.
The 27-year-old Miles Cottman suffered the accident in the French Alps, where he crashed to the ground after he had clipped a tree, causing his parachute canopy to collapse, while flying down the side of a mountain in Les Deux Alpes.
Just over a week after the accident, Cottman has undergone four surgeries – emergency surgery to stop internal bleeding in his intestines; mesh and three bolts inserted into his broken back; a steel rod placed in his right femur; and surgery on his broken left patella and fibula. He also sustained injuries in his right heel, left ankle, spleen, right kidney, and coccyx,
Sydney Morning Herald reported.
And if that isn't enough, Cottman also didn't have travel insurance to pick up his mounting medical costs – a decision, his older sister Emily said was a “massive mistake.”
As a dual Australian-British national, the injured skydiver thought his British citizenship or his German permanent residency would have him covered in case of an accident, the report said.
To pay for Cottman's rising hospital bills, his family set up a GoFundMe page, seeking support to raise $100,000. By Monday morning, over half of said amount have already been pledged towards the campaign.
Commenting about the overwhelming support the family's received so far, Emily told
SMH: "Mum works for herself, so there's no income for her while she cares for him. Obviously, she won't come back until he does.
“It's put quite a bit of stress on my family. It's so incredible the amount of support that's been given so quickly."
Cottman has been given an immediate prognosis of 45 days' lying down, without moving. He is no longer attached to breathing tubes, but he's sleeping most of the day.
The longer term outlook is less certain, however,
SMH said.
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