15 year old Chester-le-street girl “stranded” and left with £45,000 medical bill after paraglider collides with her and breaks her back, ribs and causes brain bleeding

A Chester-le-street girl has been “stranded in Turkey” after a collision on a beach with a paraglider saw her break her back, footing a massive medical bill.

Lily Nichol, 15, was having a meal with her mother Lyndsey Logan and sister Meggan at a restaurant in the Turkish resort of Oludeniz when, to the family’s horror, a paraglider landed on her, rather than the beach.

Lily is now in hospital and has serious injuries including a broken back, fractured ribs and a bleed on her brain – and her family are desperately looking to raise £45,000 to pay for the operations she needs.

The family did not have travel insurance, now they need urgent help.

Her mother says: “Lily needs at least two operations. That’s going to cost £45,000. And without the operations, we can’t bring her home. It happened as we went for a last meal before we were going to travel to the airport. Meggan had given her a slice of pizza. The next thing we know there’s just this paraglider there.”

“I just want to get it out there,” Lyndsey added. “There are all these famous footballers and people like that, if it was their child… What has happened, it’s something you can’t forget. You think – ‘how could this be possible?’.”

The family said they are waiting to speak to the police about the incident, too. The crowdfunder to support Lily’s treatment available here.