A Calgary man, who had been struck by a car in Taichung in Oct., ‘passed away peacefully’ according to relatives

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/15 16:27
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

A Calgary man, who was seriously injured after being hit by a car in Taichung on October 1, died on

Wednesday one month after returning to Canada, according to CTV News. His family announced the sad news in a statement hours after his death.

John Kelly, 31, who had been teaching English in Taichung, Taiwan, over the past three years, was hit by a car while walking home and was hurtled 10 meters away. Kelly was taken to the hospital for emergency care but the severe damage to his brain and spine left him in a coma.

Kelly was eventually flown back home in mid-November through the efforts of a Go Fund Me campaign raised by his father to foot all the medical bills and to pay for his medevac from Taiwan to Foothills hospital in Calgary.

On Wednesday local time, Kelly’s family released the following statement, saying he “passed away peacefully” early Wednesday morning.

It is with great sadness that we report John Joseph Justason Kelly passed away peacefully on December 14 at 1:00 a.m., after returning to Canada by medevac, the medical team at the Foothills Hospital did extensive testing to determine John’s current medical condition and his prognosis for recovery.

It was discovered that the damage to John’s brain was severe and parts where extensively damaged, enough so that he would never recover from his injuries. The heartbreaking decision was made to allow John to go peacefully.

At this time we would like to thank the excellent teams and Individuals at the Foothills Hospital I.C.U. POD C, and the Intensive Palliative Care Ward for their outstanding devotion and care to John Jnr. And to everyone involved who helped in raising awareness for John’s situation and for helping to raise the funds to reunite John with his family in Canada.

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