Vacation abroad turns tragic for American nurse after accident leaves her 'all metal'
Warning, graphic content
An American ICU nurse had a harrowing brush with death after her rental moped crashed during a vacation to Thailand, leaving her with a brain bleed, a broken collarbone and shattered teeth.
Sierra Fairhurst, 23, arrived at Boston Logan International Airport in Massachusetts on March 27 after two weeks in Thailand. According to a GoFundMe, Fairhurst was in a moped crash during a vacation in Thailand.
"Despite the long road ahead for her, this could have been completely different, and I’m so grateful to have her here, alive and her brain in working order," Zoe Rose, Fairhurst’s mother, said in the most recent GoFundMe update.
"Her face can be fixed, her wounds will heal, bones can be repaired," Rose said. "She has the strength to overcome all of this."
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Fairhurst rented a moped during her travels in the Southeast Asian country. She told Boston 25 that at one moment they were on the road, and the next they weren't.
She awoke in a foreign hospital with devastating injuries.
"I remember going to see the elephants, and we went zip-lining and all the excursions that we did, but that’s it," she said. "My eye socket is broken, I almost lost my eye, my cheek bones and nose were broken, so that’s all metal now."
After the accident, the 23-year-old nurse was taken to Krabi, on southern Thailand’s west coast, for treatment. She was eventually transferred to a facility in Bangkok before returning home, according to GoFundMe.
Rose and Fairhurst’s brother, J, arrived in Thailand after the accident to help her. Her identification was lost in the aftermath of the accident, which complicated the process.
"In the confusion of the accident and her friends packing luggage to transfer with her to the next hospital, all of Sierra’s identification is missing," Rose said. "She has no ID, social security card, or passport. It is imperative that once she is stable she gets to come home to Boston and receive the best care and recover at home with her family."
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With the help of the U.S. State Department, Fairhurst was given proper documentation to travel back to the U.S.
"I know she’s very self-conscious in regard to the scarring on her face and missing teeth, but she still came out of this alive, and her brain is healing and doing well, and she’s still beautiful," she told Boston 25.
When she returned from her trip, Fairhurst went directly to a Boston hospital to be evaluated, and it was determined she did not need inpatient care.
Fairhurst visited the wound clinic and oral maxillofacial surgeon and has appointments scheduled with her primary care provider, neurologist, ocular plastic surgeon, orthopedic surgeon and cosmetic dentist, according to the GoFundMe.