(Dec 15th update below!)

(DEC 7th — SEE UPDATE BELOW)

(DEC 4th -- SEE UPDATE BELOW )

Many of you know our photographer friend Oraf Orafsson, who has been travelling for the past few months. Unfortunately, Oraf fell from his bike and broke his hip two days ago. He is currently in a hospital in Tel Aviv and requires emergency hip surgery which will cost $50,000 Canadian. Also, it is costing him $2000/day just for the hospital stay.

I wish I could tell you he had health insurance, but unfortunately he does not. This GoFundMe will cover the costs of either the full surgery and recovery in Israel, or a medical evacuation back to Vancouver, which would require a nurse to travel with him and many additional medical costs.

Let's support Oraf in his time of need. Donate whatever amount you can and hopefully his community of friends and supporters will be able to get him back home and back to health as soon as possible.

For those who are wondering who I am, my name is Françoise and I have known Oraf my entire life. He is a dear friend of my mother, Aubin. We are all hoping that we can get him home to Vancouver, BC as soon as possible so he can recover in the company of his loved ones.

Update (Dec 17th)

Oraf is safe and sound back in Vancouver! Thanks to your generous donations he was flown back on a very expensive last minute business class flight and is now recovering at home. He is in quite a lot of pain and has limited mobility. Friends are checking in. The hospital in Israel has sent him a $35,000+ bill to pay which he still has to figure out. Thank you truly to all of you!

UPDATE (DEC 7th)

Oraf is still recovering in hospital. My sister is flying there to help arrange his transport home. He will hopefully be flying back to Vancouver in a couple of days. Thank you again for your generous donations! He is likely to need a bed on the flight home, so everything is so appreciated. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.

UPDATE (Dec 4th)

Fortunately, the hospital didn't require payment up front, so Oraf has had a successful hip surgery and is now recovering in hospital. He will be able to return home to Vancouver soon, and the hospital will set up a payment plan to cover his outstanding bills. Thank you so much for your generous donations! In a perfect world, artists would be as rich as stockbrokers, but sadly that is not the case. He will need all the help he gets in order to deal with this medical debt. A million thank yous to all of you!