A YOUNG man who fell from a balcony while on holiday is on a “slow road to recovery”, his mother says.

James Coltherd-Walls was being treated at a hospital in Cyprus but has been able to return home due to a fundraiser which paid for his transportation.

The 23-year-old was visiting Cyprus with friends when he slipped and fell, suffering serious head injuries.

He was taken to hospital and needed life-saving brain surgery to keep him alive.

He remained in the intensive care unit at Nicosia General Hospital for weeks being moved to a regular ward, but he had not regained consciousness.

His mother, Julie Coltherd, said the experience was “horrendous” and she was “worried he was not going to wake up”.

She flew out straight away to be with her son after the accident on August 16.

She and friends said they desperately wanted James to be able to return to England to continue his treatment.

But he needed special medical transport to fly him home which would cost thousands of pounds.

So Julie’s neighbour Louise Coales-Maskell, who had also travelled out to see James, started a GoFundMe page called Help Bring James Home.

More than 200 people donated, including many of James’s friends from David Lloyd gym in Brighton who his mother said “helped an amazing amount”. More than £24,400 has been raised so far.

This allowed James, from Woodingdean, to be transported back to England on September 19 and he is now being treated at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

Julie said: “Now the speech and language therapist and the physio are working with him, but he is not properly awake yet.

“He is responding to people a bit now, but we are taking very small steps. We have got to be patient which is hard.

“He lost a lot of weight which doctors are concerned about, but they are dealing with it at the moment and building him back up which will help make him stronger.

“At the moment doctors can’t say how he will be after his recovery which can be frustrating, but he is moving in the right direction.”

Julie also said she was grateful to all those who had donated to the GoFundMe page and made it possible to transport James back to England.

She said: “Everybody has been amazing and we really appreciate all the help and support we have received.

“More than £20,000 was raised in about a day and a half which is unbelievable, I think it just goes to show what a popular person James is.”