Edmonton teen attacked, hospitalized in Dominican Republic coming home

An Edmonton teen fighting for his life at a Dominican Republic hospital after being attacked at a nearby resort was being transported back home Sunday, says his mom.

Chase Delorme-Rowan, 18, was attacked at a resort bar in Punta Cana while on vacation with his family, leaving him hospitalized in critical condition. On Sunday morning, his mom Cindy Rowan was in a rush and light on details but told Postmedia that her son was en route home.

Rowan said she and her husband saved up all year to take their family, including Chase and his two older brothers, to Punta Cana for a week to celebrate his 18th birthday.

Late on Jan. 14, Chase and his two brothers decided to go to the resort bar around 10:30 p.m. Rowan was later woken at 12:45 a.m. by her older sons who informed her something had happened to Chase. She told them to bring him back to the hotel room, thinking he had too many drinks, but they phoned her a second time 15 minutes later to say an ambulance had been called.

She could hear screaming and panic through the phone.

Doctors later determined her son’s skull had been cracked from the front of his forehead to the back of his neck. Doctors had to perform surgery to remove a blood clot the size of a grapefruit and remove part of his skull.

Police have since charged Kyle Stephen Denny, a 34-year-old Halifax resident, with assault causing bodily harm.

On Wednesday, Rowan told Postmedia doctors had decreased her son’s oxygen and sedation and Chase would soon have the ventilator removed.

Rowan said the doctors in the Dominican Republic had given the go-ahead to start the process for her son to be flown back to Edmonton. She said at the time she did not know when her boy could come home since there is a hospital bed shortage in Edmonton and across the province.

The costs for the medical care have been adding up and Rowan told Postmedia they were already close to $80,000. But she was thankful that she and her husband had medical insurance through their personal insurance or else they’d be drowning in hospital bills.

She said prior to this ordeal, she had no idea how much coverage she had.

“I didn’t know how much, until we had to make that call, and it’s $250,000. Thank god! I could only imagine if we didn’t have it. We’d have to remortgage our house or something,” said Rowan.

Rowan created a?GoFundMe campaign?to help with the cost of the medical bills and for the local lawyer.?

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