A former Broughty Ferry man who was in a coma for eight weeks following a horrific scooter accident in Taiwan is on the slow road to recovery.
Kevin Skelly was only given a 1% chance of survival when he came off his bike on the way home from work at Carnegie’s pub in Taipei in February.
The 46-year-old suffered a massive brain trauma, a collapsed lung and various broken bones but now he is starting to walk by himself and even brush his own teeth.
His Taiwanese wife Jenny has remained with him in the hospital since the incident.
Kevin’s older brother Tam (53) described the moment he received the call at his Lochee home, telling him Kevin may not make it through the night.
”It was only about 7pm but I was in bed when my wife came to say ‘Tam, you will have to get up. I think your brother might not survive.’
”I had numerous missed calls from Jenny. When I phoned her she was too distressed to speak.
”She put Kevin’s friends on the phone who said they didn’t know if he would survive. The first thing I thought was he was dead.”
Tam went straight round to his parents’ home in Broughty Ferry where they waited for an update on Kevin’s condition.
It quickly emerged Tam had been in a collision with another scooter driver at an accident black spot in the city, where a scooter driver was killed only a few hours later.
Jenny and the couple’s children Ciara (4) and two-year-old Callum were following in the car and saw the accident. Kevin was rushed to hospital, where Jenny had to force surgeons to operate.
”There was only a 1% chance that he was going to live,” Tam said. ”Jenny had to fight for it. You think when doctors say there’s no chance you take their word for it but Jenny fought.”
As Kevin underwent an intense six hours of brain surgery, Tam, his father Thomas (76) and his elder daughter Shannon flew out to Taipei, leaving his mother Phylis, who has severe arthritis and is housebound, in Broughty Ferry. They arrived to find Kevin in a coma in the intensive care unit.
Tam said: ”He was in the coma for eight weeks but he’s out of ICU now. He’s not speaking yet but he’s getting about a bit. He’s made a vast improvement and is now doing physio and cleaning his teeth.”
However, there is still a long road to go. Kevin’s broken arm is mending and a collapsed lung is now working by itself but he is facing a further 10 hours of surgery to reconstruct his face. He is still unable to speak and the hospital bills are mounting.
Almost immediately after the crash, friends in Taiwan and back home began rallying round to raise money for the family.
One charity night in Taipei alone raised £20,000 and supporters have organised golf tournaments and other events to drum up some cash.
Back home, Gail Whyte, who was the year below Kevin at school, is busy organising a quiz night on Monday July 16 at the Fort Bar in Broughty Ferry to raise more money for his care.