Jenni Evans is badly injured in a Thai hospital

Jenni Evans, from Sheffield Road, Barnsley, was a passenger on a motorbike when she was involved in a serious accident on Ko Pha Ngan island on Thursday, May 11.

The Barnsley Council worker was on the holiday of a lifetime with her boyfriend Joe when the accident occurred, causing substantial damage to her right leg.

Due to a misunderstanding around what British driving licenses will allow you to do abroad, Jenni was not insured to be on the motorbike, though she was unaware of this at the time. It means her holiday insurance company are not willing to cover the costs of medical evacuation or treatment and she remains in hospital in Thailand.

Jenni has suffered with Crohns Disease since she was 13 years old and was supposed to return to the UK next week to continue with her treatment. But she is now stranded in a hospital on Koh Samui island, where her family fear she is not getting the treatment for her leg injury that she desperately needs.

A online fundraising appeal set up by friends has already raised more than Â£16,000 after attracting over 600 donations.

Her mum Andrea said: "We just want to get Jenni home as soon as possible.

"The money needs to be raised as quickly as possible. At the moment Jenni is incredibly exposed to infection and there is a real risk Jenni could lose her leg. If the infection spreads it could be life-threatening.

"This is a terrible accident that could have happened to anyone.

"Our Jenni could have easily been someone else's daughter, granddaughter or friend. You think it will never happen to your girl, that it will always be some horror story that you read in a paper, but this is our reality now.

"We are so very grateful for the outpouring of support we've had so far, not just from the people of Barnsley and family and friends but from people right across the country. We really need all the help we can get to bring Jenni home and get her the help that she so desperately needs."