Bride paralyzed in freak honeymoon accident: 'Her fairytale wedding trip has turned into a horrible nightmare'
Friends and family are fighting to get a new bride back home to Texas after a freak boogie boarding accident during her honeymoon in Hawaii has left her paralyzed, an NBC affiliate in Dallas reports.
A GoFundMe fundraiser has raised more than $25,000 in donations for Nikki Lewis, who broke her neck in two places after a wave crashed into her as she boogie boarded in Maui on Sept. 12, just days after her Sept. 8 destination wedding to husband Will Lewis. As her GoFundMe bio notes, “Her fairytale wedding trip has turned into a horrible nightmare.”
“For a while, she was just unconscious and we all thought she was dead,” Taycha Pillot, who was among the wedding guests joining the Lewises for their trip, told NBC 5. “It hurts to see someone so amazing have to go through this just days after, you know, the perfect day.”
The Prosper, Texas, resident and mother of two was flown to the mainland for treatment, but her ability to come home to recover remains uncertain. A spokesperson for the Nikki’s Hope Facebook page told Yahoo Lifestyle that doctors have given the newlywed a 50 percent chance of full recovery, but special — and costly — arrangements will have to be made to transport her to Texas.
As Lewis’s family explores travel options such as booking a private plane or reserving a commercial flight’s first-class section, loved ones are raising funds to cover the cost of transport and mounting medical bills.
They’re also trying to track down an unidentified paramedic they credit with helping rescue Lewis from the ocean. The paramedic happened to be vacationing on Big Beach near Maui’s Makena Cove when the accident occurred.
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
Hurricane Florence canceled their dream weddings, so what’s next for these brides?
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