The family of an Australian student poisoned in Taiwan who raised nearly $210,000 to fly him home have broken their silence after Daily Mail Australia revealed they had initially failed to donate the excess money as promised.
Alex Shorey, 24, from Toowoomba in southern Queensland, fell ill after allegedly being drugged with rat poison by an elderly woman while he was studying abroad.
His aunt, Lizzy Shorey-Kitson, launched a GoFundMe page to help pay for his medical evacuation, pledging to donate the excess money to Queensland-based company Medical Rescue, which flew Alex back to Brisbane on May 3.
More than $208,000 was raised in less than two days.
But Daily Mail Australia revealed last month that the medivac cost just $65,000 and no donation had been made – more than three months after Alex came home.
Alex Shorey (left) had been fighting for his life at Taipei Medical University Hospital in Taiwan after unknowingly ingesting rat poison. He is pictured with girlfriend Elly Chen (right), who previously said she suspected he had been poisoned more than once in the time it took doctors to figure out what was wrong with him.
Medical Rescue (pictured) flew Mr Shorey back from Taiwan to Princess Alexandra Hospital in Queensland. His father later said: ‘I believe his medical repatriation actually saved his life’
The GoFundMe page was set up by Mr. Shorey’s aunt, Lizzy Shorey-Kitson (pictured), who originally said any excess money would be donated to Medical Rescue.
It has now emerged that shortly after the Daily Mail Australia story, the family made a substantial donation to Medical Rescue.
“As you can understand, it has taken some time for the charges to be finalized given the recovery needed from such an extreme situation,” Ms. Shorey-Kitson wrote on the GoFundMe page, four days after the piece was published.
“We are pleased to announce that all excess funds from this page have been donated to the Gold Coast Medical Rescue Foundation.
“We hope that these funds can now be used to help and support other families who, like us, find themselves in times of crisis.”
Daily Mail Australia understands that the donation to the foundation was $79,000. That means that about $64,000 would have been left over if the cost of the medivac had been deducted from the total amount raised of $208,662.
GoFundMe also gets a discount on crowdfunding projects.
Ms. Shorey-Kitson has been approached about how the remaining $64,000 has been spent, but has not responded. Daily Mail Australia does not allege any wrongdoing on behalf of the Shorey family or by Mrs Shorey-Kitson.
Police in Taiwan are investigating a 45-year-old woman over suspected poisoning
The GoFundMe page, set up on behalf of Mr Shorey’s parents Stephen and Julie (pictured), has raised nearly $210,000 in less than two days
The latest update on the GoFundMe page notes that the “family’s priority is Alex’s recovery.”
“Since Alex’s return, we have declined requests from the media as we have been advised not to make any further comments so as not to jeopardize the ongoing police investigation in Taiwan,” the statement said.
The page was initially removed after inquiries from Daily Mail Australia last month, before adding a lengthy statement thanking supporters for their contributions.
Alex, an exchange student at the University of Queensland, had been in Taiwan for a year and was weeks away from returning to Australia when he developed black patches of skin and unusual bleeding.
He was admitted to the intensive care unit of Taipei Medical University Hospital on April 18.
After days of bleeding, Mr. Shorey went into hypovolemic shock, meaning his organs were at risk of failure from lack of blood.
A severe allergic reaction to vitamin K treatment at the hospital led to a cardiorespiratory collapse six days later.
His father, Dr. Stephen Shorey, said his son suffered another anaphylactic reaction shortly before leaving Taiwan.
“I believe his medical repatriation actually saved his life,” Dr Shorey told the paper ABC on May 6.
His parents initially thought his illness was caused by contaminated street food, but the Taipei police ruled this out.
At first, doctors were unable to determine what was wrong with Alex before toxicology tests later revealed that he had ingested the rat poison superwarfarin.
Taipei police are investigating a 45-year-old woman – reported in local media as Shorey’s girlfriend – for suspected deliberate poisoning.
Local media reported that rat poison was discovered in the woman’s home, similar to that found in Mr Shorey’s system.
The woman is now the only suspect in a criminal investigation and is not allowed to leave the country.
In early May, English teacher Elly Chen, a close friend of Mr Shorey’s and a colleague who teaches English, said she suspected he had been poisoned more than once in the period it took doctors to figure out what was wrong with him used to be.
“If things are getting better, why are you getting worse?” Ms Chen told Sky News Australia.
What happened between the end of March and the beginning of April?
“I don’t think it makes sense, because once they find out it’s rat poison, why do things go the way they do, right?”
She said she took Mr. Shorey on his first visit to a hospital in Taipei after he began to urinate blood and develop black skin marks, and in late March.
But doctors initially dismissed his case after suggesting it was a genetic problem.
Mr. Shorey was then in and out of hospital for a month as doctors scrambled to find out what was wrong with him.
Ms. Chen offered the exchange student the opportunity to stay with her when his condition worsened.
But Shorey responded by saying he was “staying with a friend.”
That friend is reportedly the 45-year-old Taiwanese woman who is now under police investigation after officers found a 30ml bottle of rat poison at her home in Taipei.
According to local news reports, the woman has now admitted to poisoning Mr Shorey.
She reportedly said she intended to drink the poison herself in a suicide attempt, but Mr. Shorey accidentally drank it.
Authorities suspect she tried to poison the Australian to prevent him from returning home, according to SET News.