An acrobat has been left bed-ridden and with a broken neck, after falling when a cable snapped during an aerial performance in Bali.
American Sam Panda, 26, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was performing on an aerial hoop at Finns Beach Club on Canggu Beach when the accident occurred.
The hard-to-watch footage of the incident was recorded on the performer’s own camera which was placed a distance away.
In the harrowing video, Panda, who has been performing for almost a decade, can be seen twirling around a hoop suspended 13-feet (about 4m) above the ground. Suddenly, the cable snaps, sending her crashing to the ground head-first.
According to the Daily Mail, Panda hit the wooden stage and broke her neck in several places from the impact.
“I was in the middle of an aerial hoop performance when the cable released and I fell approximately 3-4 meters to the ground head first,” she wrote on Facebook.
“I have broken my C5 vertebrae, that means I broke my neck, burst the discs between my C5 and C6 as well as C6 and C7, and those are pushing into my spinal cord.
“I also had to get 8 stitches in my head. I am hospitalised at the moment. I am not paralysed and can move my arms and legs, but I also cannot walk yet. My spine can’t support my weight, plus I’m pretty weak and woozy.”
Her friend Olivia Leonie told the Daily Mail that the experienced performer “had said a few times before that she didn’t feel comfortable using the equipment, that it wasn’t safe. Her employers had an outside company in to check it was all safe and secure.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up for Panda, to get her evacuated to Singapore or Taiwan for surgery after Bali doctors urged her to do so.
She’s lucky to have escaped with her life. A description on the GoFundMe page set up by her friend, says: “She somehow survived but has multiple fractures in her neck and a shard of bone stuck in her spinal cord which is preventing her from walking.”
The page added that Panda’s employer won’t cover the medical evacuation, but the acrobat is racing against time: “the longer Sam stays in Bali, the higher the risk that these debilitating injuries are irreversible.”
An update on Monday (Nov 6) stated that Panda will be evacuated to Taipei this week for surgery as she has family there and it was intially thought that Panda would be covered by insurance in the country. However, she does not have medical insurance in Taiwan as her marriage visa has expired.
According to the GoFundMe bio and their social media pages, Panda is married to Rocky Lee, a Taiwanese Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter, who has been vocal on Facebook about the lack of financial support from her employer, Finns Beach Club.
The club has responded to a query by Coconuts Bali, stating that “all medical expenses are being paid by Finns Bali”, but this has been disputed by Panda’s friends on the crowdfunding page.
As of writing, $52,605 has been raised from the GoFundMe page, above the $40,000 targeted. The money is expected to go towards the medical evacuation cost, plane tickets and overnight stay for Indonesian medical staff, ambulances and other fees, said the statement.
In a post on her Facebook page on Nov 6, Panda wrote: “Why is it that out of all my hundreds and thousands of shows, the one that goes viral is the one I can’t even bring myself to watch!?”
A video of the fall has so far garnered more than 30,000 views on YouTube.
candicec@sph.com.sg
