A POPULAR young man fell from a balcony while on holiday leaving him needing life-saving surgery.

James Coltherd-Walls was visiting Cyprus with friends when he slipped and fell, suffering serious head injuries.

The 23-year-old was rushed to hospital and needed emergency brain surgery to save his life.

His mother, Julie Coltherd, described the “horrendous” experience.

She said: “He was taken to a private clinic where they saw he needed his brain and skull opened up.

“They said his brain was swelling really quickly. I was worried he was not going to wake up. Being in another country where there is a language barrier, sometimes the way they explained the situation and how I interpreted it could be unclear.

“You worry they are saying that he won’t be able to come home. It was very frightening at times. It seems so wrong he is having to deal with this.”

The accident happened on August 16 and, after hearing the news, Julie flew out straight away to be with her son. James was placed on life support in the intensive care unit at Nicosia General Hospital for more than three weeks and was then moved to a regular ward. But he has not yet woken up.

Julie said it “could be weeks or months, there is no way of no knowing” when he could wake up.

The family desperately want James to be able to return to England “via an air ambulance” to continue his recovery and say he has been passed as “fit to fly”.

But Julie said she is concerned about the costs of care and transportation. So Julie’s neighbour Louise Coales-Maskell, who had also travelled out to see James, started a GoFundMe page on Wednesday called Help Bring James Home.

She aimed to raise £20,000, but within a day of the campaign being set up it had smashed this target.

More than £22,191 had been collected by yesterday afternoon.

Julie said she is hoping James will be able to return home on Monday and added: “It’s all just people who know James. Because of his personality and who he is as a person I think people really wanted to help.

“He is also a keen gym-goer and trains at David Lloyd gym in Brighton and they have helped an amazing amount.

“We just want to thank everybody.”

But Louise said more money may need to be raised as James did not have travel insurance and his medical bills, including “emergency brain surgery, over three weeks in intensive care, and numerous scans” have not yet been revealed.

She said these are “likely to be quite significant”.

James, who is an electrician, will also not be able to work for some time and any additional funds raised will be used to support him and his recovery.

Julie said: “He has got a long road to recovery.”