A father-of-two is at risk of losing both his hands after a firework he was holding exploded, leaving them ‘unrecognizable’.
Nick Gilbert, 58, was setting off fireworks at Kelan Beach in Bali at 3am on New Year’s Day when a charge in one spontaneously exploded.
Bystanders saw on video the moment the Adelaide Hill man fell to the ground, both of his hands badly damaged by the blast and good Samaritans rushing to his aid.
Mr Gilbert has lived on the Indonesian island for the past four years and now has to undergo several complex operations to save what is left of his hands.
The country’s medical system requires him to pay for the surgeries in advance.
He launched one GoFundMe on January 9 asking for help to pay for the operations, without which both hands would have to be amputated.
Nick Gilbert, 58, originally from the Adelaide Hills but now living in Bali, is fighting to hold on to his hands after a fireworks accident on New Year’s Day left them ‘unrecognizable’
At 3am, the father-of-two set off fireworks at Kelan Beach before one of them exploded while he was holding it, seriously injuring his hands
Mr Gilbert’s five-year-old daughter, Hayley, wrote the description for her father’s fundraiser because he still couldn’t use his hands.
“(Dad) can’t write this for you because he was seriously injured in a fireworks explosion on NYE in Bali that almost caused him to lose his hands,” Hayley wrote.
‘Daddy thinks he’s lucky he still has a hand. He can’t even wipe his own ass.
“If all goes well, he should be able to wipe it off himself one day.”
The family is asking for $200,000 to pay for surgeries costing $10,000 each, medications, doctor’s appointments and rent as Mr. Gilbert cannot work.
He initially moved to Jimbaran, near Kuta, with his wife Triana and children, Hayley and Henry, to teach people to surf and is now the director of Fliteboard Fliteschool.
Hayley recounted the accident from her father’s perspective, writing that he was left with bones and tendons dangling from his damaged hands.
‘I held it low, away from my face, several shots were successfully executed (but) the last (shot) exploded in the tube. The force was enormous and both my hands were crushed and split,” she wrote.
‘It looked far from salvageable, bleeding profusely… a mess.
‘Things that were important a few seconds earlier are no longer important. Everything started with fun. One second later the world suddenly stopped being fun.’
After being rushed to hospital from the beach by kind strangers, Mr Gilbert was attended to by surgeons who stabilized his condition.
Mr Gilbert lost two fingers on his right hand and half his thumb, and suffered extensive damage to his palm and other fingers before finding out his insurance would not cover him.
Mr Gilbert moved to Jimbaran, near Kuta, with his wife Triana and children, Hayley and Henry, to teach people to surf and is now the director of Fliteboard Fliteschool
In total he lost two fingers on his right hand and half of his thumb, causing extensive damage to his palm and other fingers.
Once he came round, he was told that the family’s 10-year private health insurance policy would not cover the costs of reconnecting tendons, grafting skin or repairing muscle damage.
At best, doctors said 50 to 60 percent of his hands’ former function could be returned.
Meanwhile, Mr Gilbert said he has had to send potential customers to his competitor because he cannot work and may have to sell the family car.
However, his spirits remain high and in an update he wrote ten days after the GoFundMe launch, he said the future was looking brighter.
“We’re not out of the woods yet, but we have all the necessary components in reasonable condition to maintain all the figures, but not the length… they are (a) little bit shorter obviously,”
‘It will be another six months before I can wipe my bum, but I am very positive.
“I’m the happiest person in the world… and if nothing goes wrong, I have fingers on the end of both hands.”
Of the people who have currently donated to Mr Gilbert’s fund, one saw the opportunity to make a joke.
“I’d love to lend a hand,” they wrote after transferring $70.
A GoFundMe asking for $200,000 was launched by Mr. Gilbert to pay for the numerous surgeries he will need to restore 50 to 60 percent of the lost mobility in his hands