Leap into a sea of trouble

A freak holiday accident has left a young Kiwi woman stranded in London while she recovers from a broken back.

Lisa Cochrane, 24, shattered a vertebrae in her spine after jumping several metres into water near Makarska in Croatia.

She was with a small group of Kiwis and Australians on a seven-day sightseeing adventure about a month ago when they decided to jump from a ridge into the Mediterranean Sea.

Cochrane, from Rothesay Bay on Auckland's North Shore, made the jump three times, but hit the water at an unusual angle at the fourth attempt.

"I must have bent back slightly," she said from her hospital bed.

"It wasn't the height, it was the way I jumped."

Cochrane has had two metal rods and three metal plates inserted in her back but didn't immediately realise how badly injured she was.

She initially felt "winded, out of breath" but on the short walk back to the boat from the jump site, started to experience "intense" pain.

"It felt like someone had got a belt around my back and was squeezing really tight."

Cochrane was taken to a small accident and emergency department then transferred to a larger hospital about an hour away in Split.

She thought she had suffered internal bruising, and was shocked to learn she had broken her back: "That was quite scary."

Cochrane was in hospital in Split for 13 days, then moved to an apartment for two weeks.

Her parents flew to Croatia to help with her recovery but she still found it tough laid up in a foreign country.

She was later flown to London and is recovering well in St Thomas' Hospital in London - she was able to get out of bed earlier this week.

But she is expected to take months to recover fully and is worried about having to manoeuvre her way around London when she gets out of hospital.

Her options for flying home are to travel first class, which she can't afford, or to tough it out in economy class, which would "hurt too much".

When she will be cleared for take-off is up to her doctors and physiotherapists.

But her friends, Sam Light and Natalie Strange, are holding two fundraising events next month to help with the costs.

Cochrane thanked her family and friends for their "incredible" support and said she was looking forward to the ordeal being over.

And she had nothing but praise for Kiwi-owned tour company, Sail Croatia, whose staff visited her in Split to help with translation.

How to help

Lisa Cochrane's friends have planned two fundraisers to help bring her home.

The first is a party featuring five DJs at The Ferguson Bar, at Massey University's Albany campus, on October 2. Tickets cost $15.

The second is an auction at East Coast Bays Rugby Club from 4pm on October 24. To donate goods call Sam on 021-888-935.