Bring Yang Home

Yang Yang Chen, an Australian citizen, who is 34 years old, went to China on 01/06/2024 for a three week holiday. On 20/06/2024, the day before his scheduled flight back home to Sydney, he had a tragic fall. Yang sustained severe skull fractures and has been in a coma ever since. He was first put in ICU, and is now in the neurosurgery ward in Shantou Central Hospital.

As Yang didn't have travel insurance for the trip, the ballooning medical bills are overwhelming and are now the responsibility of the family. Yang's Dad, Cory, went to China to help look after Yang for three weeks, but had to come back to Australia for work. Yang's Mum, Grace, a part-time primary school teacher with the NSW Department of Education, has taken leave from work to be with Yang during this extremely difficult time. Grace has spent most of the days and nights looking after Yang in the hospital for the past 6 weeks. A common care model in many Chinese hospitals is that a family member has to be present with the patient around the clock. With very little sleep at night, and suffering from constant stomach problems for the past month, Grace has become physically and emotionally drained and on the verge of collapse. Her heart aches to see her son in such a condition.

The uncertainty about how and when they can return to Sydney has caused their entire family great emotional stress.

Yang's parents have tried several times to contact the Australian Consulate-General in Guangzhou, and have reached out to the Emergency Consular Assistance to ask for help. They have been told the situation is solely a family responsibility.

They have also been trying different pathways to bring Yang back to Sydney. As Yang is not fit for flight as a stretcher passenger on commercial flights, they have contacted a few medical retrieval services both in Australia and in China. Sadly, they were told that Yang is not even fit for medical repatriation on commercial flights, because of his skull fractures, pulmonary embolism, and still being in a coma. Now the only way left for them to bring Yang back home is by air ambulance. The estimated cost given by CareFlight is around $250,000.

The family desperately and urgently seek your kindness, and your generous help with the cost of transporting Yang back to Sydney. Any financial aid you can provide will be greatly appreciated by the whole family and those closest to them. We kindly ask you also to share this page with your friends, family and community to ensure that we bring Yang home.