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June 09, 2009
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A 30-year-old American living in Seoul, Matt was admitted to Soonchunghyang University Hospital on May 4 with an unusual form of gangrene. He needed emergency surgery to remove infected skin tissue. While waiting for complications to subside before the surgery, he developed deep vein thrombosis, and his medical bills rose to over 20 million won ($15,974). Unfortunately, Matt does not have insurance - he worked in Bundang, Gyeonggi as an English teacher from January 2007 until September 2008, when he says he was fired for issues related to his epilepsy. He is currently living in Korea on a tourist visa, and initially tried to deal with his bills on his own. Matt’s mother has been supporting his three siblings alone, and though she did cash out her and Matt’s life insurance policies, those came to just 3 million won. After many deadlines passed with no payment, Matt’s friends said the hospital confiscated his passport and delayed further surgery. “I tried to find ways to solve this issue on my own and with my family, but ultimately the costs became such a heavy burden,” Matt said. “The only option I had left was to turn to my friends here in Korea and at home.” Matt called Sara Moore, a longtime friend who also worked in Bundang until last year and now lives in Ohio, on the morning of May 27, local time. “It sounded like he was giving up. He was not asking me for help, he just wanted a friend to talk to. He had very low spirits and was doubtful that anything could be done to help him,” Sara recalled. She instantly thought of setting up a group on the social networking Web site Facebook to help her friend. “I created the group thinking that if it could raise a few thousand, maybe the hospital would let him stay,” she said. Over 200 people had joined the group by May 29. Now it has more than 800 members. Sara asked her other friends in Korea to help, too. Matt has acted with local expat troupe the Seoul Players, and together his friends ran multiple fund raisers in Itaewon and Sinchon. Money has come in through Facebook from people Matt had never met. They had raised over 25 million won as of Saturday. “There have been so many donations, from so many areas. From donation boxes set in businesses in Itaewon, people transferring donations through Matt’s bank account, and Matt’s Paypal,” said Lydia Cooper, an English teacher in Bundang and another friend of Matt. “Some of them don’t know him, some of them never met him, and never even heard of him until now and they are using what they can and what they know to raise money for him.” One individual donated $500. Most give 10,000 won. But as Lydia puts it, “everything helps.” “I wasn’t expected this tremendous support,” she said. “I just can’t believe it. It’s absolutely amazing.” Matt said he has been touched by the generosity of strangers. The phone calls he’s received from donors, he said, “renewed my faith in humanity.” “I also heard from my friends that people living in the United States, Thailand, and England donated money,” Matt said. “It has been difficult at times to remain in good spirits and come to grips with everything, but seeing everyone so willing to help in whatever way they could was one of the main reasons why I have been able to cope and find the humor in this situation. Thank you all so very much.” On June 4, Matt had skin graft surgery to remove the gangrenous tissue and repair his damaged skin. But he still needs a second, more complex surgery to repair more damaged tissue. Cooper said that surgery would be even more expensive. “The bill now is 21 million won, and we paid most of it. So we’re thinking that the rest of that money - 4 million won - is going toward the surgery [June 4] he just had and the rest of his hospital stay,” said Collette Nickerson, another friend of Matt. Matt’s friends said they would continue holding fund raisers to cover further expenses. Doctors at Soonchunhyang said Matt would benefit from a specialist in reconstructive surgery, so his friends are looking for another hospital. For those interested in helping Matt, visit his Facebook group, “Please help Matt Robinson, a foreigner in need,” at http://tinyurl.com/helpmattr. It has updates about Matt’s condition and various upcoming fund-raising events, and lists an account number for donations. By Kim Mi-ju [mijukim@joongang.co.kr] |
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