It was supposed to be a getaway with friends, enjoying the North Okanagan, but for Lawrence Pickrem who was visiting from Calgary, it was a weekend that ended in disaster.
Last weekend he and his group of friends rented an Airbnb in Vernon for four days, but the trip was cut short after they fell off a balcony.
“While we were talking, there was three of us, one of us would have leaned on the balcony a bit and the whole thing just gave way, and down we went,” said Pickrem.
The three friends fell about two storeys down from the balcony, leaving one with a fractured skull. Pickrem is still in hospital with a broken pelvis, and a tailbone and spleen injury. He took the brunt of the injuries after his friend landed on him.
“It’s going to be about three months until I can walk,” said Pickrem.
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“I’ve been trying to sort of get around on a walker to use the washroom but it’s me hobbling on my right foot because the left side of my pelvis is what got injured, so I’ve been trying to hobble around a little bit ”
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All of Pickrem’s friends have returned home, but he’s still in limbo about his return to Calgary, where he plans to recover and then eventually go back to his hometown in Halifax, to be with his daughter.
“Basically I need to figure out a way to get to Calgary, I don’t even know if I could fly on my own,” he said.
“(The doctors) told me if they were to transport me from here, where I don’t have B.C. insurance, and I don’t have private insurance if they were to transport me it would be like $4,000.”
His family started a fundraising campaign that has, so far raised close to $5,000.
In a statement to Global News, Airbnb said, “We are looking into (the accident) now and have reached out to the guest to offer additional support.”
Since the accident, Airbnb has refunded the group for what would have been a weekend-long stay.
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