AN ONLINE fund set up to help a Co Down teenager who fell from a balcony in Spain has raised almost £7,000.
Niamh McGeoghegan (18), originally from Newry, suffered "life-changing injuries" after falling from a third-floor apartment in Benalmadena on March 17.
Her uncle Tony Curran last week told The Irish News her injuries include a severed spinal cord and fractured skull. Doctors have also detected two bleeds on her brain.
He said medics had told Niamh's mother Claire and father Damien that she will be paralysed from the waist down.
In a bid to support Niamh in her rehabilitation, Mr Curran established a fundraising page.
Just over a week after the page was set up, around £6,600 had last night been donated – exceeding the £4,000 target.
Niamh, a former pupil of Our Lady's Grammar School in Newry, remains in intensive care in hospital in Malaga.
In an update on her condition, Mr Curran wrote on the fundraising page: "Niamh underwent a tracheotomy on Friday to help with breathing, she is sedated at present and fighting pneumonia and two other bacterial infections.
"She has been moved to an isolation ward in ICU to help control infections."
It is also understood that the family, who moved to the Fuengirola area of Spain around three years ago, are still awaiting the results of brain scans to assess the haemorrhages.
Mr Curran added: "Please keep her and the family in your prayers."
