A young woman on the trip of a lifetime is stranded in a Vietnamese hospital with multiple injuries after a horrific road crash.
Rachel Hughes, 27, is being fed through a tube and has lost her hearing after the moped collision which happened seven months into her travels.
Miss Hughes suffered broken ribs, collar bone and a bleed on the brain, but is now contending with the added worry of how she will pay for her hospital stay.
Her travel insurance expired six days before the crash, which happened on October 22.
Miss Hughes' bills have already topped £3,500, and continue to rise, reports North Wales Live.
The beauty therapist from Flintshire will have to undergo intense physiotherapy in order be able to be deemed medically safe to fly back to the UK. She has pins in her collar bone to try to reset it.
Although she was wearing a helmet, her head injuries were severe. And the wounds will have to be reopened in 14 days' time to release any blood still accumulated.
Her best friend Coralie Botfield, from Ewloe, has set up a fund-raising campaign for Rachel.
Miss Botfield said: "Rachel went travelling in April after coming out of a long relationship."
"She was having the time of her life and had got herself a job teaching in Hanoi, which she loved."
She added her friend only realised her travel insurance had run out when she checked it following her accident.
"She's very frightened, especially when she found out about the insurance.
"She's being fed through a tube as anything she tries to eat comes back up again, she's also lost her hearing and has been warned she may not get it back in one ear.
"Her medical bills have gone up to £3,500 so far and they are going up $50 a night.
"We have until December 20 to pay the bills."
Miss Hughes' family are waiting to hear if she needs further surgery before her mum Tracie flies out to be by her side.
Miss Botfield added: "She's very, very scared at the moment and she’s feeling extremely low and feels awful putting her mum through all this, as she's not well herself.
"Her balance isn't right at all and can't even walk herself.
"Every time she moves her head even slightly to the side she violently vomits, and she's told me she's in excruciating pain which is heartbreaking to hear."
The 26-year-old added: "Rachel is a very strong and fun loving young woman, so I know how much all this has affected her because she always has her spirit but this has really taken its toll.
"She always helps others and would give you her last penny if it meant you went with, and her without.
"She calls me her soul sister, and I stayed by her side when she lost her father as a young teenager."
Rachel's mum Tracie was too upset to talk to North Wales Live.
If you would like to help Rachel Hughes pay her medical bills please go to her Go Fund Me page.
