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A British teenager is in intensive care after a freak scooter accident while she was on holiday in the US.

Karmen Curley, 18, was visiting her sister Sian when she suffered a brain injury in the horror fall.

Sian, who lives in Los Angeles, is desperately trying to raise more than £118,000 to pay for Karmen's treatment, as the teenager forgot to get travel insurance.

She was injured when she hit a pothole and is being treated at UCLA Hospital in Los Angeles.

Sian, 22, told Belfast Live she is at her "wit's end" because of the spiralling cost.

She said: "I was studying in America for a year and we planned to do a road trip from San Francisco to Las Vegas, so Karmen arrived to meet us.

"We decided to rent out electric scooter to venture the area but after not even one minute, Karmen hit a pot hole and flew off her scooter.

"When I went up to her she was unconscious and in a pool of blood. The blood was pouring out onto the ground, it was traumatising to watch.

"The ambulance came and she was taken straight to Intensive Care in UCLA Hospital.

"It is $15,000 per day to stay in ICU and that isn't including her medication, scans or needles. I am at my wit's end - I don't know how I will afford this.

"We have been told that if she gets out, she will need to stay in LA and go for a follow-up meeting before she can fly home to Belfast. This follow-up will cost $4,000 alone, so the total just keeps getting more and more."

(Image: Facebook)

Sian and Karmen's mother, Karen, passed away last year, so the two students are in LA on their own, and the bill isn't getting any smaller.

Sian said she thought her sister was dead when she seen her lying on the street in a pool of her own blood.

She added: "We don't have much family so it is just us two on our own here. Karmen is all I have left. I am really stressed out and confused. If my mum was here she would be sorting this all out, I am really finding it tough.

"We are still paying off the funeral costs of our Mum who died suddenly last year and with these mounting costs we do not know how we are going to cope. I really just don't know.

"If I have learnt anything from this horrible situation it is to get travel insurance. It isn't even expensive and it literally will save you so much. We wouldn't be in this position if Karmen had of thought to get it. Our mum would be on the ball with things like that so it's times like this we really miss her."

Sian said: "We definitely have a long way to go. If anyone can help donate anything at all it would be a huge help."

The link to donate is here.

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