A young American travel blogger suffered a traumatic brain injury and is in a coma following a scooter accident in Bali, and needs money to be airlifted to a hospital in the U.S., according to a GoFundMe page set up by family friends. Kaitlyn McCaffery, of Santa Clara, California, was found unconscious on the side of a road on the Indonesian resort island by two passersby on July 31. She was “alone, unconscious, broken, and bleeding,” says the GoFundMe appeal. “Without their help, she surely would have died.” She is now in a hospital in Denpasar, the provincial capital. But although McCaffery is receiving “all the care” Bali’s health-care system can provide, according to a video update posted Monday by Bob Stolebarger, a lawyer and family friend, said she “desperately needs a medical evacuation to a hospital in Northern California, where she can receive the level of care necessary.” However, Balinese authorities denied McCaffery’s mother’s request for an emergency visa due to COVID-19, Stolebarger said.
“Although Kaitlyn was smart to buy international medical insurance, the insurance company has refused to pay for the cost to evacuate her to California,” according to the family’s GoFundMe page. “The costs to evacuate her using an experienced international medevac company, such as Air Med or International SOS, are extremely daunting. Due to the distance and COVID-related border closures, it is estimated that the cost will be approx. $250,000 US Dollars. The family has found a major trauma hospital in Northern California that is able to accept and care for her.”