Marcel Syron needs help to go overseas for stem cell treatment which is not available in New Zealand.
Marcel Syron needs help to go overseas for stem cell treatment which is not available in New Zealand.
An overseas hospital is the only option Whangārei yachtie and builder Marcel Syron has to restore some mobility in his arms and legs after he was severely injured during a trip to Panama last year.
Syron suffered critical spinal injuries after diving into a swimming pool on March 26 while on an around-the-world sailing adventure.
Despite treatment, Syron still has no use of his legs and limited use of his fingers and hands.
“If I had the opportunity to change one thing then it definitely would be to skip that pool dive. Just one stupid decision and it nearly cost my life.
“But I’m a fighter and am not giving up on myself so soon,” he said.
“This will hopefully help regenerate my spinal cord cells, tissue and my overall mobility in the long run,” Syron said.
A Givealittle page has been set up by family to raise funds for his expensive treatment and trip. They have yet to decide on an overseas hospital but hope to do so soon.
Syron has little memory of what happened after he hit his head on the bottom of the pool.
“All I can remember is feeling a stark pain on my neck, looking back towards the setting sun and some islands in the distance... and that’s it.”
From what his crewmates told him, he was initially discovered by one of the women “popping out of the pool”.
“After I hit my head, I was submerged for a good six minutes or so... that’s when this woman realised something was wrong and alerted my crew, who instantly carried me out of the pool, did CPR and took me to the hospital, I’m told,” Syron said.
He spent four months in St Tomas Hospital in Panama, during which he developed terrible bedsores, survived a cardiac arrest, contracted pneumonia three times and had to go through three weeks of induced coma - the experience of which he described as a “crazy one”.
Marcel Syron says he is a fighter and will never give up on his wish to one day use both his arms and legs.
“It took me months to realise that the dreams I had seen during my coma were not real.”
He had dreamt that a McDonald’s store blew up and that his bed was floating on lava.
After Syron regained consciousness, his family filled him on his condition and how he had been having constant bouts of fever.
“Seems like my dreams were a translation of what my physical body was going through,” he said.
Whangārei builder Marcel Syron suffered spinal injuries while preparing to go through the Panama Canal.
His family had to pay US$120,000 ($192,000) to the hospital to cover the cost of his stay,after which he returned home and was immediately admitted to the Middlemore Hospital in Auckland for further treatment.
Since coming back, he has also been denied help from ACC as he was out of the country for more than six months before his accident.
Avneesh Vincent is the crime and emergency services reporter at the Advocate. He was previously at the Gisborne Herald as the arts and environment reporter and is passionate about covering stories that can make a difference. He joined NZME in July 2023.
