Urgent Plea For Rare Blood Donations
Gold Coast surfer Mark Richardson is desperately seeking blood donations as friends scramble to get the critically ill surf coach back home from Bali.
Friends Nathan and Fiona Meyer have been at Denpasar with Richardson, who was hospitalised with internal bleeding about 10 days ago.
Mr Meyer said Richardson requires transfusions of the rare A negative blood type.
"He's had quite a few [transfusions] already – some take, some don't," he said. "There's language barriers, there's all sorts of hurdles and red tape. We're fumbling our way through it."
Mr Meyer said he donated his own blood to Richardson but the surfing great "went downhill" about four days ago.
"I wish I could give blood every day but unfortunately it's about once every six weeks, the specialists told me," he said.
Liam O'Brien and Callum Robson with coach Mark Richardson (Photo Liam O'Brien)
'Lots of love and support'
Richardson is an ex-pro surfer and the current coach of WSL surfers Liam O'Brien, Callum Robson and Isabella Nichols.
It is "tough news" to comprehend for Liam O'Brien. "He has been my coach since I was a little kid and helped me develop all of my skill set," O'Brien said. "He has been a massive part of my life, obviously as an athlete but also in a personal relationship as well.
Currently at home on the Gold Coast, O'Brien said he is trying to piece together what is happening to Richardson from afar.
"I know he is not in the best of ways so hopefully it can all work out and he can get back to full health:"
Mark Richardson surfing at Uluwatu in Bali (Photo Mark Richardson)
Surfing commentator Terry 'Tappa' Teece said Mr Richardson is "one of the greats". "A multiple Australian champion and it is so sad to see him in this predicament," Teece said. "I am sure he will fight through it, but I think the best solution would be to get him home.
"He has coached some of the great surfers, the community is getting behind him which is great."
Ms Meyer said friends and family have begun crowdfunding to pay for a medevac to Australia.
"There are lots of prayers going on out there for him as well, lots of positive thoughts and love and support," she said.
But Ms Meyer said blood donations are needed urgently so that Richardson can be stabilised before a flight becomes available.
Richardson is highly respected within the Gold Coast community, and a popular surfing coach at Miami State High School.
"He is a legend. Everyone knows him, and he's just an all-round good guy," Mr Meyer said.
// KIRSTEN WEBSTER and DOMINIC CANSDALE
© Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.
Comments
"if you have A negative blood you can only receive A- or O- blood. "
https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/blood-types/a-blood-type.html
According to the MedicalToday web page; April 2023, the US ethic groups below have the most potential of A- blood type.
"East European and Russian Jewish: Drori A-negative blood type"
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/most-common-blood-type-by-race...
Hope they're holidaying in Bali atm & can give....
could easily happen to anyone, hopefully he gets enough transfusions to be able to get him safely.
And Hopefully Fully Screened .
But how to get the good stuff to him? I'm A- and on the Sunshine Coast...
Last donation was two months ago, so (as far as I understand it) technically can't donate for another month..
I'm O- which he could use but just gave a pint last week.
What’s actually wrong with him? Any news on how the internal bleeding started? Wish him all the best.
Update!
With only 7% of the population being A negative. We arranged 10 x A negative blood from the Red Cross in Brisbane we were picking up today at 3am to get it flown over directly. Just about to leave for pick up and drop off and can’t believe but ph rings and the Bali hospital have said they refuse to accept any international blood now after they agreed earlier verbally.
WTF ?
Really?!
Just take it anyway. Chances are you don't and then tomorrow a different person from the hospital calls and asks where the bloody hell are ya!?
I'm a neg but not in Bali. If I was I'd go give him some.
What happened to him? The story doesn't say how the internal bleeding happened. Also, wouldn't travel insurance cover a medevac flight home?
yeah im O- as well but it says that it has to be A-.........not sure why cause i thought O- was fine with all blood types.........they are keeping it quiet on the bleeding side of things....Mark seems to know a lot of the well off surf heroes .....think they could organise his flight home
Underway Yew !
Great news. Mark is being evacuated by LifeFlight from Bali tonight. He will arrive in Darwin around 11pm. Blood is being sent from Townsville to Darwin now.
That's good news!
looking over the people who have donated i couldn't see any of the big names who are seriously cashed up .....you know who ya friends are when the chips are down
I thought he was parkos brother-in-law?
It's good to hear a positive outcome.
Also, a good reminder / call out to all those who are eligible to dontate blood, to try and do so from time to time.
I'm A- & was already booked in for a donation tomorrow - noting, it's been a while in-between donations.
It'd be interesting to know what part Travel Insurance played in all of this, especially to understand implications for the everyday punter travelling abroad.
Aren't billabong his and his sons longtime sponsor...where the hell are they? Surely their support goes further than a sticker on the nose, a wettie and a couple of T-Shirts?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-27/mark-richardson-evacuation-lifefl...
Loading up and giving the transfusions on the plane back, it is dire!
Good call Frodge. I'm a big proponent of donating blood and have donated a lot more than your average bear and still nowhere near as much as I could have over the years.
Some nearly 2/3 of adults are eligible to give blood (per the screening criteria) but only small fraction do. Which is a really shame as it's super easy these days with donor centres and vans all over the joint, an easy to use app to book yourself in etc. League tables for organisations to compete etc. It seems much faster these days too. I swear it use take close to 2 hours from when you walked in and back out again. Nowadays it seems to be all over in about 40-45 minutes.
I think one thing holding people back is the myths around who the blood recipients are. The biggest myth is that it all goes dumb drunk fucks who crash their car and need blood. But from what I recall the top two recipient cohorts by a solid margin are cancer patients and mothers recovering from complications caused by giving birth (like my wife, who lost nearly triple the average amount lost during a C-section).
Internal bleeding caused by what? Burst appendix?
A top fella, hope he makes to home to Oz okay for proper treatment. Why the secrecy around what caused this though? Regardless, hope he pulls through - is the go fund me still live? EDIT** found this on the GFM page - "Mark has been experiencing severe upper gastrointestinal hemorrhaging with inflammation of the intestine. As in critical condition the Bali medical team have found it too risky to do any further invasive diagnostic procedures." Shit - that doesn't sound good. All the best for safe return mate
did I read this wrong or did the hospital refuse to accept blood donated from aus, while the poor bloke was laying there half dead? thats cooked mate wtf
Fiona Meyer :
UPDATE 6.30am 28/9
Just want to let everyone know Mark has arrived safely in Darwin
He is in ICU get the expert care he needs.
Thanks again for the overwhelming support.
Yep - Go Fund Me... the new insurance policy....
He has insurance @Blitz. The way I read it, his condition had not been fully diagnosed in Bali, and consequently the insurance company were not releasing funds to get him home. He has come out today in the press to condemn the judgmental dicks trolling his story online
It would be good to know which company he was insured through so one could make sure never to use them.
and to be fair to him, in my experience, no travel insurance mob will stump up the dosh straight away... you gotta find it yourself then battle the insurance co. for months after you've made the claim when you get home.
Anybody out there know if that's still the case? Does any insurance mob front up in a case like this and get you home cost free to circumvent the obligatory Go Fund Me ?
Be good to know... any of us could be in the same situ one day
UPDATE 6pm 28/9
Richo Recovery Update
Best news Mark is in the Darwin Hospital! Thank you for all your love & healing energy to help him. He was sedated for the flight. The doctors couldn’t believe the state his body was in on pick up, and said it would have been fatal had he stayed in Bali as he was haemorrhaging. Firstly we want to say how blessed we are to have such an amazing medical team and system in Australia. The Darwin doctors have been next level with hourly updates.
As Mark has been overseas they had to put in extreme hospital health precautions before proceeding with anything today.
Mark is still ICU incubated unwell but is stable. He has finally received the testing procedures and some diagnosis and the treatment he required a week ago
- Due to the lack of blood and oxygen for a week he is suffering hypoxia
- Platelet levels are very low they are trying to investigate why ?
- CT scans of head, chest, abdomen showed all good except bowel.
- Fluid all around lungs and abdomen
- Endoscopy the surgeon said the Parasite most likely inflammed the duodenum and inflammed an extremely very large peptic duodenum ulcer had ruptured which has been haemorrhaging hence so much blood loss. They can’t remove the ulcer so to stop the haemorrhaging have used metal clips and another procedure. Bleeding has finally stopped.
They will need to do a biopsy of ulcer once his more stable as it was to risky today.
Doctors are treating the parasite and investigating why the platelets are so low. Biopsy ect to follow
Mark will remain at Darwin till 100% . We have family friends John and Nicky on the plane now too for additional support.
So now focusing on healing Mark to get home
Thank you
So heavy!
So happy to hear he has made it home safely. As much as we all love travelling to Indo for amazing surf and as third world countries are so cheap, so is life there. Their protocols regarding health are very much driven by what you have in your pockets, or who you know. Not a place you want to be seriously ill and praise the efforts of all his friends and family to slog through the logistics with whatever financial help they could muster. Let's hope the insurance actually pay back as Richo still has a journey of recovery in front of him.
UPDATE 5.30am 29/9
Richo healing update
Mark is still stable, ICU sedated and incubated.
Best news receiving his treatment he needed his finally got his colour back. Thank you so much for support.
Any latest news on Mark ?
UPDATE 12pm 01/10 From Family
Richo Recovery Update -
Firstly we are so grateful for your love, support and healing messages.
As many of you are already aware, Mark was thankfully medically evacuated back to Darwin in a critical condition from Bali after illness which quickly escalated. Mark’s great surfing mates Gary Cruikshank & Miko were on the ground at Mark’s bedside in Bali. He was not receiving enough A- blood supply as he was obviously profusely haemorrhaging internally from an unknown source at that time given his critically low haemoglobin levels.
Yes he did receive a handful of units however despite multiple confirmed donations of A- from very kind individuals local and people travelled all over specifically to donate. Unfortunately the vital supplies weren’t getting all to Mark. Many people informed us that they were turned away at the blood bank as it was suggested that they had enough blood! We also became aware that O- blood was not authorised to be used for him in Bali which was surprising given this is commonly used as the go-to blood type in emergency situations in Australia. Hence some confusion arose as many O- universal donors were also questioning this and continued to step forward and donate.
A- blood type, whilst rare, it is not the rarest blood type in the world, however a lower percentage is found in the SE Asian population. Hence many travellers and expatriates stepped forward in Bali including the surfing community who rallied around this cause. What we have learnt: an A- can only receive A- in Bali and a direct match is required for all blood transfusions.
Even still now there is an incredible surge from generous people in Australia and from around the world willing to send or even jump on a plane to give blood.
Concurrently, Mark was rapidly deteriorating deprived oxygenation. This led to a cascade of events, ICU, hypovolemic shock, hypoperfusion, with still no diagnostic testing of haemorrhaging cause except indicated duodenitis which is inflammation of the small intestine. His haemoglobin was indeed critically low.
The usual clinical pathway for upper gastrointestinal bleeding would be to perform an gastroscopy/endoscopy. This was not performed as the hospital suggested Mark was too unstable?
Mark’s haemoglobin was a 2 and required at least a 8 to be transported.
It was becoming quite surreal.
As he wasn’t receiving all the blood donated as now an a blood supply of 10 Units of A- blood from the Red Cross in Australia for family to deliver directly. The hospital in Bali verbally agreed to receive. Then on our way to pick up the blood outbound to Bali from Brisbane airport we received a call saying the Bali hospital wouldn’t sign off to accept international blood.
Now no other option in a critical condition Emergency air ambulance from Townsville with blood supply flown directly to Darwin. Reason for haemorrhage still unknown and unstoppable Mark was given blood, intubated, sedated on pick up in a-critical state.
Darwin medical staff have been amazing now conducted all diagnostic tests, surgery and treatment that had been required.
Bacterial infection, perforated very large Peptic ulcer clipped and bleeding stopped immediately. On Friday Mark had
intubation removed out of sedation and now eating solids and watched the AFL yesterday with our long life friends John & Nicky’s by his side.
Recovering so well everyday now.
Next step hopefully out of ICU to ward.
Thank you for your ongoing support and love.
Bianca
( all updates are directly from family and doctors reports )
Well just as well they got him out of Bali...be dead by now probably .......great news about his recovery .
As much as people who live here love to bag Australia, he'd be dead if he stayed in Bali.
That's a sobering thought
Is it because they're not trained sufficiently or because only the rich get the best treatment or both.
UPDATE FROM RICHO 8.30am 09/10
Hey everyone first thing I want to say is that I have been absolutely overwhelmed by the amount of support I have received from all the people that have donated. I have gone through and made sure I checked everyone single donation one by one and all I can say is how grateful I am and it’s brought tears to my eyes. From old friends to old work colleagues right through to parents of old mates and former high school friends as well as old footy mates and some some of my coaching clients I am so blown away by all the support. From the bottom of my heart I want to personally thank every single one of you. This has been a life changing journey for me and one of the most horrible ordeals I would not wish on anyone. From being unbelievably sick in a Bali hospital with no access to my blood type I had so many people attempt to give me blood which I am eternally grateful for. But unfortunately it just wasn’t getting to me and I had to be medically evacuated to Darwin where I went straight into emergency surgery to save my life. From there it’s been a roller coaster ride of getting better and then taking a turn for the worst. I have since had 3 emergency surgeries with the last one being successful to this point. I am currently being monitored closely in Darwin hospital in the hope that everything is now ok and I maybe able to make it home to my son later in the week if all things are positive. So not out of the woods just yet but so far so good. I will have ongoing health issues to deal with from this and am not sure when I will be able to start back with my coaching. The donations will go along way to helping me get back on my feet and with the ongoing medical costs involved with my rehabilitation. I can’t thank you all enough for your generosity. On behalf of my family and me I would like to sincerely thank everyone of you. There’s a ton of other people who I would like to thank and I will in a press release that I will do once I get home and am feeling better. This has been a very humbling experience for me and even though it has been absolutely terrifying and so painful I truly believe I am meant to learn some things from the experience. Looking forward to ticking the boxes I need to tick off and making back home soon to my family. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.
Richo
Fiona Myers UPDATE 13/10
I am so relieved to write this update.
Richo is now finally home on the Gold Coast with his son and sleeping in his own bed!!
He said to me yesterday that this is the beginning of his new life. The support for him shown through
the GoFundMe page has given him so much strength. The donations elevate an enormous amount of stress, but the act of donating shows how much love and compassion you have, and that has been the emotional support and positivity he has needed.
Many thanks once again.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-23/surf-coach-mark-richardson-home-g...