An 18-year-old Irish teenager is fighting for her life in a Spanish hospital after horrifically falling from a balcony on St. Patrick’s Day.
Niamh McGeoghegan, from Co Down in Northern Ireland, suffered the life-threatening accident during a St. Patrick’s Day party in the popular Irish holiday town of Benalmadena on Spain's Costa del Sol.
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The student plunged from a third-floor balcony and suffered three fractures to her skull, swelling on the brain, fractured ribs, a punctured lung, and a shattered vertebra. It is believed she will be paralyzed from the waist down.
Teen Niamh McGeoghegan's spinal cord severed in Spanish balcony fall https://t.co/9p4k8nYLwi pic.twitter.com/Y9FtGU8ezj
— Belfast Telegraph (@BelTel) April 2, 2019
McGeoghegan regained consciousness last week but has since slipped back into a coma and is currently undergoing medical treatment in a Spanish hospital.
Her mother Claire said her daughter is a "fighter" and doctors originally told them that the 18-year-old would not survive the accident.
"Initially we didn't think she would make it from the fall she had," she told the Belfast Telegraph.
"It shows you how determined she is, and it's her determination and fight that's making us think that she's such a strong girl."
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Her family is urgently trying to raise funds to cover the medical care for the life-changing injury and have so far raised almost $7,000 via the JustGiving website - well over their initial $5,200 appeal.
"When Niamh comes out of hospital, I want everything in place for her."
"I want to make sure she can live the best life she can with whatever equipment we need, wheelchairs and everything."
"There's still things we don't know; she can definitely move her left arm but they want to do some tests because there is nerve damage to her right arm."
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"The worst thing is going to be trying to explain to her that she's paralyzed and for her to accept that."
"We don't know at this stage, her brain seems to be functioning and she has been following commands, she can talk and remembers the incident, so we don't know if there will be brain damage as such."
Information on how to donate is available on the JustGiving website.
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