HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (WSVN) - A Pompano Beach firefighter who suffered a serious injury in an accident overseas in early February has returned home from Indonesia.
Pompano Beach Fire Rescue transported Michael Hughes to Memorial Regional Hospital, Thursday, where he will continue to receive treatment for an injury he suffered while on vacation with his friends.
“It’s good to be home,” Hughes said while in the back of an ambulance.
Their vacation started with snowboarding in Canada, then a flight to Japan before ending in Indonesia, where Hughes slipped and fell 30 feet down a temple stairwell.
“It was a very long flight for Mike,” Pompano Beach Fire Chief John Jurgle said. “He had a severe laceration, which is a cut to his head. He broke multiple ribs, had a hemopneumo, which — he had a lot of blood basically in the lung space.”
He also broke five vertebrae in his back, which is by far his worst injury.
“He’s a very, very lucky man to be alive, obviously, to be back in the United States to get great care,” Jurgle said.
Hughes received most of his treatment in Indonesia before he was sent back home, but he still has a long road to recovery ahead of him.
Hughes has been with the Pompano Beach Fire Department for a little more than a year.
“He’s feeling well,” Pompano Beach Fire Chief John Jurgle said. “He’s tired. He’s sore. He’s excited to be home and back on U.S. soil. He’s going to be evaluated for further treatment. The ongoing issue for Mike right now is his back issue, so that’s going to be evaluated and the determination will be made on further treatment and how to deal with that.”
Hughes’s mother, Lorraiane Parker, greeted him with a hug shortly after he landed and before his crew transported him to the hospital.
The trip back home was very expensive, but donations made by members of the community to the GoFundMe page set up by Hughes’s family made his return possible. It’s something that Hughes and his family are grateful for.
“I’m just very appreciative of everybody that’s been calling and helping,” Parker said. “We got people calling from all over.”
“He still has a long road to recovery, so any help, anyone that can provide it, we greatly appreciate it, and thank you so much for all the support that has been provided, thank you so much,” Patrick Hughes, the firefighter’s brother, said.
Doctors are expecting to do at least one more surgery on Hughes’ back.
It remains unknown when Hughes will be able to get back to work.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.