Family faces £8,000

A British tourist is in a coma fighting for his life after collapsing in a hostel in Cambodia, with his family facing medical bills of £8,000 a day. 

Ben Wilkins, 32, from Chinley in Derbyshire, was just two weeks into his holiday to the island of Koh Rong when he fell sick.

He was found unconscious in his room last Monday by friends before being rushed to a hospital in Siem Reap and then transferred to the capital Phnom Penh.

Ben's sister Imogen said he had 'kidney failure and severe pneumonia' and is now in a coma with a ventilator supporting his breathing. He has not woken up in five days.

The family are now facing costs of up to £8,000 a day for intensive care in the notoriously bad third-world hospitals - or an air ambulance back to the UK for up to £200,000.

Imogen, from Manchester, said: 'We do not know how long Ben had been unconscious in his room on his own.

'The ambulance ride which took five and a half hours from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh was to enable him to receive dialysis as he would have died without this.

'Most of the country does not have treatments such as dialysis available.'

British tourist Ben Wilkins is in a coma fighting for his life after collapsing in a hostel in Cambodia

Ben's sister Imogen said he had 'kidney failure and severe pneumonia ' and is now in a coma with a ventilator supporting his breathing. He has not woken up in five days

Ben's family are now facing bills of £8,000 a day for intensive care in the notoriously bad third-world hospitals - or an air ambulance back to the UK for up to £200,000

Ben is pictured with mum Carolyn

Imogen said the previously healthy young man had no underlying health conditions, and did not take out travel insurance as he had travelled to the country several times before without problems.

He even adopted two dogs from the island before flying them back to the UK with his girlfriend.

Ben's mother, father and stepfather have now all flown out to Cambodia to be by his side.

Imogen added: 'When you're young you think you're invincible, so all of this is not just a heart-breaking strain on us all but is coming at a huge financial cost to our family.

'It's £8000 a day to be kept in ICU, before the costs of ambulances, medication, procedures, dialysis and tests being done. 

'We have spent upwards of £60,000, with every day the amount growing massively.'

In an effort to manage the spiralling costs of Ben's care, Imogen and her mother Carolyn launched a Go Fund Me page to appeal for donations.

'Please help us save Ben, anything you can spare to help towards the cost of the medical bills to try and save his life and bring him back home would be greatly appreciated.

'I need my brother and my parents need their son home.

'He is halfway around the world and he needs to be back home.

'Thank you so much.'

The fundraiser had accumulated £36,000 as of Tuesday morning.  

Ben Wilkins, 32, from Chinley, Derbyshire, was just two weeks into his holiday to the island of Koh Rong when he fell sick

In an effort to manage the spiralling costs of Ben's care, Imogen and her mother Carolyn launched a Go Fund Me page to appeal for donations

An update posted to the Go Fund Me page this morning suggested Ben had begun responding to treatment, though remained in a coma. 

'Such a massive thank you to everyone who has donated. We are so overwhelmed by the response and kindness shown,' Imogen wrote. 

'Ben is definitely starting to respond to his treatments in the last 24 hours, which is great news. He’s still on a ventilator and receiving dialysis for his kidney failure and his pneumonia is still severe. 

'But there is positive news and he is responding to the treatments.'

Cambodia was once home to one of the world's greatest Empires and the capital was the 'Pearl of the Orient' in the 1950s but the country is now one of the most underdeveloped in Asia.

It was decimated by U.S. bombing campaigns in the 1970s followed by the twisted reign of the genocidal Khmer Rouge, which was supported by neighbour Thailand.

Its infrastructure has never fully recovered, and its hospitals are notoriously bad.

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