Milton Keynes mourns as Tiger Duggan sadly loses his battle for life

Tiger Duggan was critically injured in a motorcycle collision while travelling in Thailand almost three weeks ago.

He was taken to a small hospital on the island of Koh Samui and placed on a life support machine while his family flew from Milton Keynes to be at his bedside.

Doctors at first told the family 23-year-old Tiger was brain dead but his mum Lisa, a nurse at MK hospital’s neonatal unit, refused to give up hope and vowed to get her son moved to a specialist hospital in Bangkok to give him the best chance of survival. But it was a race against time and every minute counted.

Her colleagues and friends launched a GoFundMe page to raise money for the medical bills and transfer, which were not automatically covered on Tiger’s travel insurance.

Donations poured in from all over the world, some from grateful parents of babies that Lisa has nursed, and this week the page totalled more than £200,000.

Tiger was moved to Bangkok and the family was given hope when scans proved there was some brain activity present, although he was still in a coma and on life support.

Meanwhile, the plan was to transfer him either back to the UK or to Perth in Australia, where he was working for gold mining firm Westgold Resources, for his longer term care.

On Saturday (February 14) the family said Tiger had been cleared as fit to fly and they had chosen to take him to Perth as that was the “safest option”.

Lisa said at the time: “Sadly Tiger remains in a critical condition. Foremost he remains unconscious, his lungs are also extremely fragile and remain injured. He requires a lot of oxygen support”

She added: “Every day feels like holding your breath, hoping for a small change, praying for strength for all of us yet whilst my perfect beautiful boy sleeps we are all fearful of the unknown.

"Tiger has been cleared fit to fly, however with his critical and a little unstable (over the 12 hours) condition, he runs a risk of deterioration to his condition should he fly. After consulting with our UK medical repatriation team and the doctors here in Bangkok all week it is agreed that a safer option for now is Perth…. I have had communications with Perth Hospital and they have agreed to accept him into their care”.

But the costs of the transfer were “extremely high” and there was a fresh appeal for donations.

Today Lisa broke the heartbreaking news that Tiger had died early this morning in her arms after reaching his “final destination”.

She said: “Our beautiful soft-skinned, beautiful long eye-lashed boy with a cheeky charming infectious smile that touched everyone’s hearts left this dimension early this morning in my arms. “We want to thank everyone that has supported us in Tigers journey from prayers, messages and donations.

"Without those donations Tiger would not have reached his final destination where following his passing this morning in a selfless act has given 3 maybe 4 other people a second chance at life by donating his organs.” The family has thanked everybody who donated for being a part of Tigers journey, and also thanked the medical staff who treated him.

They said: “The nurses and doctors have been nothing short of extraordinary, they have excelled themselves. Whilst Tiger has received first class care, we as a family have been treated with such compassion and empathy during the most terrifying time of our lives.

“We will always be eternally grateful to them all.”