Family friends have mounted a mercy mission to pay for hospital treatment for Dominic, 22, a former pupil of St Mary's College, Layton, and get him fit enough to fly home.

It's another lesson learned the hard way by a young adventurer. The appeal echoes the insurance plight of another sports-mad young adventurer Ryan Neale, 23, of Poulton, who suffered extensive brain damage in a moped crash in Thailand in April.

His friends and family raised the funds to fly him home. He's now in Royal Preston Hospital but still in a "vegetative state", says his stepfather Joe Hubery, of Poulton.

Dominic, of North Shore, stumbled from a walkway in Phuket a week ago, breaking his neck and damaging nerves.

Further complications include a partial lung collapse and deep vein clot in one leg.

The spinal break means he may be permanently paralysed from the waist down. He's responding to physiotherapy and has upper body mobility only.

Dominic, who studies sports science at Edge Hill University, was on holiday with friend Alex, a dancer he met when his brother Andrew, 24, attended Phil Winston's stage school in Blackpool.

Alex's parents, who live in Malaysia, funded the holiday, but a currency mix-up meant insurance granted only £3,000 for hospital expenses.

The bill tops £13,500 and is rising at £1,200 a day. Specialists fear it it could be another seven days before Dominic is stabilised sufficiently to risk the flight home.

Insurers confirm they will pay up to £13,000 to cover a flight but specialist care, given the nature of Dominic's injuries, could boost the bill.

It cost more than £21,000 to fly home Ryan, who had no insurance, this summer, after he was flung from his bike.

Mr Hubery says the family still owe £22,000 for medical expenses. "Our solicitor has told us not to lose sleep over it – the important thing is Ryan is back in Britain.

"He's still in a vegetative state, but he's 300 per cent better than he was in Thailand. Our heart really goes out to the Chadwick family. We know what they're going through, we've been there ourselves, and we're still going through it.

"Getting the lad home is just the start of it. It's an ordeal. And all the help we had came from friends and family. The Foreign Office did very little. And although Ryan had been offered a job at the British Embassy, they just washed their hands of it all. Don't hold your breath hoping for the embassy to come through, they won't."

Dominic's family stress he's getting first rate medical care. Surgeons at Bangkok Phuket hospital operated immediately, removing bone from Dominic's hip to replace the damaged seventh vertebrae at the bottom of his neck.

"We can't fault the care he's had here," says brother James, 25, who was first to fly to his brother's side last week, his mum Jane, and brother Andrew following.

"The medical team is first rate. The appeal's not about flying him home to get better care in Britain.