Alex Thomas
A Florida man who moved to Bali for work is fighting for his life this Christmas after falling from a roof while chasing a monkey who stole his favorite Pittsburgh Steelers hat.
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Jeff “Swede” Swedenhjelm fell 33 feet from a roof, and when villagers found him, they took him to a local hospital where he was diagnosed with “severe damage to his spinal cord.” He is also paralyzed from the waist down.
His daughter Lyric, who is a college student, set up a GoFundMe page for her father in an attempt to raise money that he desperately needs. She told Northwest Florida Daily News that her primary concern is to get her father “out of Bali and into a country with a spinal specialist.”
Lyric also said that the medical care her father is receiving is the standard for a 3rd world country and added that her father did not even receive an MRI until a day after he was brought in. She’s frustrated by the care that her father is receiving, writing on the GoFundMe page that he was moved for no reason and that hospital staff has been unhelpful. She says, “Many hospitals in Bali see foreigners in medical situations as a means to make money and often delay vital treatment to make more cash.”
Lyric is trying to get her father moved to Taiwan or Singapore where the spinal specialists are significantly better and might be able to carry out the surgeries that he needs. She says that her father has no health insurance and no money — he lived in Florida for his whole life before moving to Bali for work. Lyric adds, “He has a great team of friends that have been by his side. He’s very popular, a social guy, always out and about organizing parties and events.”
Lyric turns 21 this week, but she says that “All I want for Christmas or my birthday is for my dad to get this surgery as soon as possible.”
You can donate to Swede here.
