Family fundraising for electric wheelchair for son paralysed by mosquito bite
07.05.2022 - 15:37
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
The family of a man who was left paralysed from the neck down by a mosquito bite are asking for help to pay for a new electric wheelchair. John Barber, a University of Edinburgh graduate and then communications officer, was travelling in Thailand and Laos with a friend in 2015 when he was bitten by a mosquito just 12 days before he was set to fly to Australia.
John, now 31, had travelled by bike from Laos to Chiang Mai. After one day in the northern Thai city he fell ill with headaches, which only continued to worsen.
The next morning, his state had deteriorated significantly and he was taken to hospital by the manager of the hostel where he was staying. Upon his admission, John's parents in Glossop received the call that the then 24-year-old had fallen ill with what they believed to be some form of infection, which his mum Kathy Miller says was "killing his brain".
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They booked flights out to Chiang Mai that day, but just 24 hours after his admission John had slipped into a coma. The 67-year-old told Derbyshire Live : "We were able to speak to John on the phone, [before they flew out] but he was obviously on his way down at that point. After contracting the virus, John has been left largely paralysed from the neck down, and unable to talk.
"It was a shock, so we were literally taking it a day at a time, not even, more like an hour at a time...John's always kept positive, because unless you keep positive, you give up don't you? He's happy in himself, he's positive and smiling, at the moment he's unable to talk so we're using other methods of communication and we're working on that with therapy. He also has supportive ventilation for his spinal