UK based Nigerian doctor hit by lorry in Las Vegas, battles for life

Dr Sebastian Kola Bankole: before the accident

A Nigerian medical doctor, Sebastian Kola-Bankole based in the UK, flew  all the way to Las Vegas, United States to attend a friend’s wedding. But on 15 February, he was hit by  a lorry, outside the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.

He is now in intensive care  at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Centre in Las Vegas where he has had emergency operations on his ears, arteries and spine and is now in a medically-induced coma

According to a report in The Mail, Kola-Bankole, 35, broke three vertebrae in his neck and had to undergo emergency surgery on his spine following the collision just off the city’s famous gambling Strip on February 15.

Dr Kola Bankole: now under intensive care

His family flew out to his bedside but were immediately faced with the prospect of mounting medical bills because they could not find a record of Dr Kola-Bankole taking out travel insurance.

They have now launched a £250,000 fundraising appeal for his treatment and to fly him back home to the UK once he is stable enough to be repatriated.

 

So far more than £70,000 has been raised just 24 hours after the online initiative was launched.

Dr Kola-Bankole specialises in infectious diseases.  He graduated from University College London in 2008 and  works at the infectious diseases department at the Royal London.