A Massachusetts woman suffered several broken bones in her face overseas.
Sierra Fairhurst, a 24-year-old Massachusetts woman, was on a trip of a lifetime in exotic Thailand with her girlfriends.
"This was her first big post-school big kid trip with her friends, and it's just ending in a nightmare, unfortunately," said Katie Fairhurst, Sierra's aunt.
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The Salem resident, an ICU nurse at Salem Hospital, got into an ATV crash in Krabi, a beach town far from Thailand's capital of Bangkok.
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She suffered devastating injuries.
"Basically, her whole face was destroyed," said Joel Fairhurst, Sierra's uncle.
The injuries are so bad that her face is in danger of collapsing. She lost most of her teeth, and she has a broken shoulder and wrist.
Her family back home says the care she was receiving at first is hard to imagine.
"Open air hospital," said Joel Fairhurst. "Pigeons walking around in the room."
Because her passport got lost as her friends packed up her things, the family says a medical flight company refused to transport her to Bangkok for the critical care she needed.
It took her mom, who flew in from Massachusetts, hard work to get the necessary paperwork from the embassy.
After four days, Sierra Fairhurst has finally been moved to the capital.
"The plan is to stabilize her facial structure in order for her to safely fly home," said Joel Fairhurst.
She will likely have to have multiple surgeries in Bangkok before she can take the very long flight back to the U.S.
Tens of thousands of dollars have been donated to an online fundraiser to help with expenses for Sierra Fairhurst and her family.
