Zsombor Toth has returned to Canada after spending three months in hospital in Thailand.
The Langley man, who suffered critical head injuries while on vacation in the Southeast Asian country, was flown back to B.C. last month.
His mother, Andrea Czegledi, a South Surrey resident, said Toth was currently being treated in an isolation ward in Burnaby, because he contracted a drug-resistant “superbug” while he was in Thailand and poses a potential risk to other patients.
Czegledi said Toth is showing signs of improvement, with good days where he appears to recognize his surroundings and will try to speak.
“It’s up and down,” Czegledi said.
“Not every day is the same.”
Toth, a 25-year-old landscaper, was riding a motorcycle when he collided with a car.
He suffered massive head trauma and was brought to the hospital in Chiang Mai, Thailand’s northern capital, where doctors performed surgery to remove bone shards from his brain.
At the time, Toth’s brain activity was said to be four per cent and his chance of survival rated at 15 per cent.
After two months in hospital, Toth suffered a setback when he fell out of his hospital bed and suffered a new head injury that required more emergency surgery.
Doctors told the family that Toth suffered severe damage to the portion of his brain that handles memory.
But by April, he was able to open his eyes wide and smile at his mother. He was strong enough to travel.
The 14-hour charter flight to Seattle on May 5, followed by a road trip to Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster cost $45,000 — $20,000 of it paid by the medical insurance company and the rest donated by supporters.
A tired Toth spent his first four days in B.C. undergoing a battery of tests and scans at RCH.
He’s been measured for an artificial replacement for the missing portion of his skull, Czegledi said.
She said the frustrating part about her son’s forced transfer from RCH to the isolation ward in Burnaby is that it took him away from physiotherapy.
“They had him sitting up in a chair (at RCH) but there is no chair with (the required) head support in Burnaby,” she said.
Czegledi remains hopeful that her son will continue to get better and said the family wants to thank his many supporters for their prayers and encouragement and wants them to keep praying.
“Zsombor is (a) living example that anything is possible.”
Family and friends have launched a GoFundMe campaign, “Zsombor must live,” that has so far raised more than $25,000 toward its goal of $50,000 to cover the cost of his hospital bills in Thailand.