Road to recovery: Newcastle teenager medevaced to Australia after horror schoolies trip in Bali
Lawson Rankin is recovering back home in a Sydney hospital after he was medevaced from Bali after he fell from his scooter and almost drowned.
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The family of Newcastle teenager Lawson Rankin, who almost died on a schoolies trip to Bali, are now by his bedside in Sydney after he was flown by medical evacuation back to Australia.
The 18-year-old St Francis Xavier’s College student remains in a critical condition in intensive care at the Prince of Wales Hospital, after he fell from his scooter on November 30 and almost drowned.
On Sunday, Mr Rankin was medevaced from Bali, with help from local Balinese police, providing motorcade and support, assisted by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Mr Rankin is still unconscious, he suffered a brain haemorrhage, an infection in his lungs and 20 stitches to the head. He also has fractures to his C4 spine.
A Go Fund Me Page was set up to help the family with medical costs and to fly him back home to Australia to receive the best of care.
The target of $140,000 was substantially surpassed with the fundraiser receiving more than $218,000 of generous donations in just a few days.
“We are extremely thankful to the Australian community for their love and support for our son and our family at this time,” father Phillip Rankin said.
“The support has been driven from the ground up, from Lawson’s friends and immediate sporting communities, right up to complete strangers on the other side of the country.
“We have been overwhelmed by the messages and contributions, we really can’t thank our community and the kind generosity of those further afield enough.
“We would also like to publicly thank the Balinese community and police for their efforts and support across the past week.
“We could not speak more highly of Bali and its people, and look forward to returning there in the future.”
In Indonesia celebrating his HSC graduation and enjoying a break with friends, Mr Rankin was trailing two friends on a scooter when a passenger on one of the scooters had their phone snatched by a local driver.
He sped up to try to catch them but tragically crashed, his scooter lodged deep inside a concrete drain filled with water.
His friends rushed to his aid to find Mr Rankin unconscious, face down drowning in the sewer, his helmet split and his head covered in lacerations.
Immediately they lifted him out and started performing CPR and were able to save his life before locals called an ambulance.