Cumming family hopeful as man awakens from coma in Bali, flown back home
Feeling helpless from 10,000 miles away, Mark Moczarski’s family needed a miracle.
The 34-year-old IT professional and adventurous free spirit from Forsyth County had been placed in a medically induced coma after being seriously injured Sept. 27 in a moped crash in Bali. He had a 30% chance of surviving, hospital officials in the Indonesian province said, after suffering a subdural hematoma, eight broken ribs and a lung full of blood.
So, raising money to get him flown back to metro Atlanta for medical care was of the utmost importance, considering he had been left bleeding for 12 hours after the crash and underwent brain surgery, his sister-in-law, Candace Moczarski, said.
For weeks, family members could only watch his still body through a cellphone screen as they pleaded for help.
On Oct. 27, after raising more than $70,000 to pay for a Turkish Airlines commercial flight equipped with a critical care physician and a nurse, Moczarski arrived at Northside Hospital Gwinnett — the same day his dream vacation to Bali was originally supposed to end. To make matters better, he woke up from his two-week coma before the plane departed.
“We felt like he already beat the odds,” Candace Moczarski told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday. “We thought he was never going to get home.”
But there were signs the road wouldn’t be easy, starting Oct. 26 when the flight was originally supposed to leave. As Mark was about to be loaded onto the plane, with wires and breathing tubes still attached, airline officials said they couldn’t fit the stretcher, Candace said. So they were forced to return to the hospital via ambulance and try again the following day. She said Miami-based company Advanced Air Ambulance assisted in coordinating how to move 16 seats out of the way for the stretcher and get the medical crew onboard.
Once family members in Georgia saw and talked with Mark in person, they quickly realized the uphill battle ahead.
“It was like a miracle to have him home, but then we started a whole other chapter of a different journey,” said Candace, who spends nearly every day by Mark’s side. “He came home like a totally different person. So that’s what we’re trying to deal with now.”
Mark knows he was involved in an accident but doesn’t recognize most family members, and only remembers specific foods, like chocolate. He is relearning to walk, swallow, lift his arms and dress himself. His speech is mostly limited to “yes.”
It’s been a test of patience for the family, which was rewarded Tuesday when Mark finally recognized his brother Mike — his protector in life and Candace’s husband.
“I kept saying, Who is that? Who is that? And he was like, ‘Mike,’ and he said his name so he was able to identify him, which was really amazing,” Candace said, adding that Mike is trying to come to terms with his brother’s current state. “Like that, he has memory and recollection. That was huge for us.”
Mark’s parents and siblings take shifts staying with him, with many of them driving more than an hour each day. But they aren’t alone. Friends and community members have supported them during the process, including sending funds for the flight.
The next step will be getting the tracheal tube removed and Mark transferred to the Shepherd Center, which provides care for life-changing injuries and conditions.
Understanding the monumental task ahead, Candace showed Mark a video he had taken during the Bali trip from the top of a mountain, where he exclaimed that getting there was the hardest thing he had ever done.
As she leaned close to Mark at the hospital, Candace mentioned how his recovery process would now be the toughest test of his life.
“So I kind of showed him that video, and, you know, he really didn’t respond to it,” Candace said, “but hopefully he can hear me.”
