British man falls 30ft from hotel balcony while on holiday
A British holidaymaker is fighting for his life in hospital after falling from a hotel balcony.
Dan Boyle, 31, was on holiday in Lanzarote with his girlfriend Ashleigh Lomas, 30, when he fell over the balcony wall on the third floor of the hotel.
When he was rushed to hospital on the Spanish island doctors discovered Dan had undiagnosed pneumonia, which they believe caused the fall on April 24, just a day after their holiday began.
Doctors believe his lungs filled with fluid because of the chest infection, which made his heart stop beating, causing him to fall over the balcony.
Dan, an engineer, was immediately given CPR by another holidaymaker. He suffered a fractured skull, fractured breast bone, torn kidney and broken ribs in the fall.
He was then flown to a hospital in Gran Canaria, where he had brain surgery, an operation on his kidney, and was placed in an induced coma for four weeks.
Ashleigh says she wants Dan to come home to their two children, eight-year-old Daisy and three-year-old Daniel, as soon as possible.
She said: ‘It’s just an absolute nightmare.
‘It’s something that you would never expect to happen to you.
‘Our children are just missing him, they just want him home.
‘He was perfectly fine. We was in the pool together half an hour before, laughing and joking.
‘He had a little cough but we didn’t think it was anything.
‘It wasn’t a constant cough, it was just a little one, so you obviously wouldn’t think anything of it.’
Dan is no longer in a coma but is still unable to communicate. Doctors believe he has ‘really bad’ brain damage but the full extent won’t be known until he’s fully awake.
He will also need a specialist flight to return home to Stockport, Greater Manchester, which costs around £35,000.
While the couple’s insurance has covered Dan’s hospital bills, it won’t cover his flight home.
Ashleigh is now raising money for the flight, adding: ‘It would mean everything for him to come home, everything would be so much easier for everybody.
‘He will be able to be around people who he knows and get the care that he needs.’
Earlier this week a British bar owner in Lanzarote fell from a balcony to his death following ‘a scuffle with a drunken troublemaker’ – and a German man has been arrested on suspicion of his murder.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.