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Efforts are underway to raise funds for a young Cork woman who has temporarily lost the sight in one eye following a quad bike crash in Thailand.
Ciara Twomey from Bantry is a nursing student at the Tralee Institute of Technology. The young woman (22) was on holiday with friends in Thailand last week when she was involved in a crash on a quad bike. She was brought to hospital where she underwent eye surgery.
Her brother Nick told Cork’s 96FM Ciara has lost her sight in her left eye.
"Her sight is lost for now in her left eye. We have no idea for sure if it will come back or if it is gone. Hopefully the next operation will take place in Ireland.
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“I spoke to Ciara yesterday and she sounded in a lot of pain and she said it is so hard for her to understand what they are trying to do because they don’t speak English. They are also not giving her enough painkillers.”
Nick said they had started fundraising for Ciara’s care.
“It depends on money as to when she can travel and how Ciara is to travel. It is very scary. The phone call we got was awful.
“She was on holidays. It was her third day there and she was with a group of seventeen and it was the worst call anyone could get. My mum and my brother flew over. They should be arriving soon.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs is set to liaise with the Twomey family to provide consular support.
“This is a difficult, expensive and challenging road ahead for Ciara” a friend posted on GoFundMe.
“We urgently need to raise funds to assist in Ciara’s care, travel and recovery. Ciara is a beautiful, kind young girl with her whole life ahead of her - she is loved dearly by all and we are devastated that this has happened to our girl.”
Donations can be made to the fund at www.gofundme.com/help-ciara-twomey