The family of a young father who was seriously injured in a moped accident while on holiday are left heartbroken after doctors declared him ‘brain dead’.
Kevin Malligan, 24, suffered serious head and neck injuries after falling from a moped his partner was riding while in Bali on December 29, just weeks before his wife Leah was due to give birth to their second child.
The father-of-one underwent emergency brain surgery at a hospital in Nusa Dua, about 40km south of the island capital Denpasar, before generous donors helped fund a $150,000 medivac flight back to Sydney on December 4.
Despite doctors’ efforts, Mr Malligan’s family confirmed on Wednesday that his injuries were considered irreversible and he was now brain dead.
Tragically, he will never meet his second child with wife Leah, who is 33 weeks pregnant and expected to give birth sometime next month.
Instead of enjoying the impending birth, the Malligan family, including their young daughter Ivy, are faced with the painful decision of when to say their final goodbyes and turn off his life support.
“This is the hardest time of our lives and we just can’t be grateful enough that we were able to get him home so everyone can see him before he leaves us,” Ms Malligan told Daily Mail Australia.
A 24-year-old father seriously injured in a moped accident while on holiday in Bali, Kevin Malligan (pictured), has been declared brain dead by Australian doctors
Mrs Malligan described her husband as a ‘wonderful father, husband and friend’ with a generous and loving nature, who will be ‘missed by everyone’.
“He was always up for a joke and would do anything to put a smile on someone’s face.”
Above all, she said, Mr Malligan was a devoted father who wanted nothing more than to spend time with his daughter Ivy.
“There was nothing more precious than seeing how excited he was when he came home to give his Ivy Girl a big hug,” Mrs Malligan said.
‘Then they played constantly until it was time for dinner and bedtime. He loved her so much and she doesn’t love anyone else as much as Kev.”
Mr Malligan’s mother-in-law and organizer of the GoFundMe Jodie French, who has raised more than $116,000 for the family, said the family’s “hearts are broken.”
“Kevin has been officially declared brain dead,” Ms French’s message on the page reads. ‘The doctors have done all relevant tests in recent days.’
‘This has been a painful experience for all of us.
‘The Malligan family now face the terrible decision of when to withdraw his life support. We are sending all our love and prayers for strength to our daughter and Kevin’s family at this time.”
Mr Malligan’s family, wife Leah and young daughter Ivy (pictured), are now faced with the tragic decision of when to say their final goodbyes and cut off his life support.
Mr Malligan has been in an induced coma since shortly after the December 29 accident after suffering a brain haemorrhage and a fractured skull, eye socket, cheek, nose and neck.
The fundraiser has received more than 1,300 donations since December 30, after Mrs Malligan appealed for help to bring her husband back to Australia.
Mrs French said her daughter is grateful to those “who have donated, helped (or) sent messages to help her and the family at this time.”
“Leah is so grateful for the financial support to bring Kevin home and to be able to spend quality time saying goodbye.”
Mr Malligan has been in an induced coma since shortly after the accident after suffering a brain haemorrhage and a fractured skull, eye socket, cheek, nose and neck.
He was riding on the back of a moped his friend was driving when the pair “hit a bump” and he was thrown, Ms Malligan told Daily Mail Australia.
She said her husband wasn’t doing anything stupid or drinking when the accident happened.
The medical bills all had to be paid out of pocket after Mrs Malligan tried to get travel insurance for her husband that would cover scooter accidents, but nothing was available.
Despite being in her third trimester, Mrs Malligan accompanied her father and brother-in-law on a flight to Bali to be by her husband’s side.
She then rushed back to Nepean Hospital in Western Sydney after he was returned to Australian soil, where he remains.
The young father will tragically never meet his second child with Mrs Malligan (pictured), who is 33 weeks pregnant and expected to give birth sometime in February
