We come to you with a heavy heart, for our dear friend Ezra, 19, who suffered a near fatal accident when he crashed into a tree in the mountains on the first night of our trip in Austria. He was airlifted to hospital and has spent the past 10 days in intensive care. These days have been extremely difficult with many uncertainties for Ezra, his family and friends. Following his time in intensive care, Ezra will begin a rehabilitation program to help him to recover as fully as possible. As yet we do not know what that looks like, but we want more than anything to give him the best possibility for complete recovery.

His close family and friends are with Ezra, which is challeging having his care in Germany, so far from home, in Cambridge and University in Glasgow. To have the support of such a resilient community of family and friends rallying behind him. It's hard to know how to help, or to contribute towards Ezra's recovery, but there is something you can do; with kind hearts you can help by donating to our crowd funding campaign to raise funds for Ezra's rehabilitation program as we navigate this challenging journey.

As his friends, who were present during the accident, we feel compelled to do everything in our power to support Ezra and his family through these difficult times. The financial burden of medical bills, ongoing therapy, and the uncertainties of the future will no doubt weigh heavily.

Your contribution will help rebuild Ezra's life and give him the best chance to recover. We hope that Ezra will defy the odds, regain his voice, and reclaim a life full of potential. Every donation, no matter how small, is a valuable contribution towards helping Ezra. Thank you for being a beacon of hope for Ezra. Please share 🫶

With gratitude,

Anton, Isobel, James, Josh and Mikel

news article:

https://vorarlberg.orf.at/stories/3238499/

Update:

Ezra is improving day by day. He was transferred by ambulance from the ICU to an early rehabilitation centre a week ago, also in Germany. To our relief, he has started speaking again! His voice is a little bit soft and slow but we understand most of what he says. He is able to walk in the centre corridors with someone at hand, even manages stairs with help, and has been outside briefly. By now he is able to eat normal food, and is regaining his former appetite. Ezra continues with an incredibly positive attitude, despite most things being very difficult. He gets exhausted very quickly, and so sleeps a lot. He sees double which annoys him during most actions. He is very keen to look ahead to when he can return back home and go back to getting on with his things in Cambridge and Glasgow; more patience is undoubtedly necessary.

Your messages with well wishes mean so much to us and have helped us through very difficult times. 🙏

Update 30th of June 2024 (Ezra writing here):

Thank you for your donations and messages. It was incredible to see how many wonderful people were sending their love and prayers to me and my loved ones, and created a community that, at the time of such uncertainty, gave support and hope to us all. I know it was encouraging for those around me in hospital, my friends and family, and it was amazing to find when I was recovering. I am happy to say that I am doing so much better now.

After spending over a month in three hospitals, two in Germany and one in Cambridge, I returned home, in February, for several weeks to recuperate and begin getting back to ‘normal life’. I then returned back to university 5 weeks after the beginning of the semester. It was hard but amazing to return to university and see all my friends. Somehow with hard work, I managed to catch up with my work and my friends at uni and sat the Year 1’s final exams. And recently found out I managed to pass 1st year with distinction.

Some things remain a struggle: I have 6th nerve palsy in my right eye. Meaning that I have lost control of one of the muscles in my right eye as the nerve is damaged, causing my eyes to be misaligned (double vision). However this has improved massively, I used to be unable to focus (create a single sharp image) on anything at all, however I am now able to focus on anything within 2 meters. Making daily tasks much easier. This injury was caused by nerve damage, and given my rate of recovery and the fact that injuries of this nature can heal for almost 2 years, I have much faith that my vision will return to normal, given time. Additionally I have minor hearing loss and tinnitus in my right ear, but I can hear people fine so this is not a huge issue. Another typical symptom is fatigue, and for me I need perhaps an hour more sleep but that is very manageable. So all in all I feel practically back to normal, which is very reassuring.

It's so nice to finally rest this year, now that university is finished and in light of the circumstances I couldn't think of a better outcome for my recovery.

At the time of my accident, ‘long term’ effects and my future needs were uncertain. Additionally, the treatments and hospital stays I was receiving were very expensive, so when my friends Isobel, Anton, Josh, Mikel and James created the donation page, their hopes were to support myself and my family financially in light of whatever was to come. Luckily, Insurance should cover most costs but we are still waiting on that. If the insurance does come through, I’d like to donate the money to charities and organizations that made my rescue and recovery possible.

I would also donate some to my very good friend Luca whom I've known since I was small, who has recently been in a skiing accident and suffered similar brain injuries as mine. Whilst he is recovering, the road towards complete recovery is still ahead and I want to support him and his family as best I can. I have been visiting him weekly in hospital and it's incredibly encouraging that he can now speak and finally eat again.

I again want to thank you for your generosity for your donation. Your thoughts and prayers were with me and I can tell you that they were invaluable so thank you for that as well. You helped me, and for that I cannot be more grateful.

If you would like to contact me my email is: ezra at Heydtmann.de