Friends of a Victorian man who turned up to hospital while on holiday in Fiji with a mystery stab wound have issued an urgent plea for help as he fights for life.
Clayton Brett was supposed to fly home after a holiday in Fiji on May 1, but instead of boarding his flight he fronted a hospital with a stab wound to his stomach.
The 43-year-old quickly became extremely unwell, with the wound becoming infected and leading to septic shock.
The infection was so severe he was put into an induced coma in the intensive care unit of the hospital in Nadi.
Mr Brett’s sudden silence caused his family to worry, with his parents, stepbrother and cousin desperately trying to track him down.
His stepbrother, Matthew Davis, told NCA NewsWire that Mr Brett didn’t come home when he was meant to and wasn’t answering any phone calls.
In desperation, the family began to call hospitals in Fiji.
“We had a bad feeling there was something going on, so we called the hospitals to see if by chance he was at any of the hospitals,” Mr Davis said.
“They got news he was there and he actually presented with a stab wound to the stomach.”
As soon as they heard the news, Mr Brett’s father Terry and stepmother Jenny Davis were on the next flight to Fiji to be by his side.
When they arrived, they were told Clayton must remain in 24-hour intensive care to receive treatment.
Septic shock is a life-threatening condition that can cause dangerously low blood pressure and organs to shutdown.
Clayton now requires dialysis, as his kidneys are failing, but the hospital in Nadi doesn’t have a functioning dialysis machine.
His parents have now had to make the crucial decision to fly Clayton back to Australia to receive the necessary interventions via medevac.
Mr Davis said Clayton’s parents had managed to scrape together $140,000 and pay for a medevac to fly Clayton back to Melbourne for treatment.
“We’ve had to find the money and pay upfront before it goes ahead,” Mr Davis said.
He is now hoping his stepbrother makes the flight home and there are no adverse reactions while in transit.
He said: “Hopefully the flight goes well, we don’t know how he’s going to react in the air”.
While there are concerns held for Mr Brett, his stepbrother said there are also grave concerns for his parent’s wellbeing.
A GoFundMe has been set up by Mr Davis to alleviate the financial stresses in what he describes as an “already stressful situation”.
“Funds raised will go towards alleviating some of the financial pressure and stresses from Terry and Jenny and assist in paying the international hospital expenses and the medical repatriation flight costs,” the fundraiser states.
Clayton is expected to land in Melbourne sometime on Friday.