A HORSE rider left paralysed after an accident in Egypt will undergo spinal cord surgery next week in a bid to help her walk again.

Olivia Fairclough, from Stockton, was crushed by her horse in a riding accident and has been critically ill in hospital in Cairo for a week.

Her family is urgently trying to raise £32,000 to pay her medical expenses and fly her home as they say the hospital care in Egypt is "shocking".

But before she can be safely moved she needs important spinal cord surgery, in the hospital in Cairo, or she risks being permanently paralysed. Because Friday is a holy day, and Sunday a bank holiday this week, it will be at least Monday before she can have her operation.

It is hoped she can be flown home for specialist care as soon as she has recovered.

Miss Fairclough, 31, moved to Egypt last year to work as a receptionist in Sharm-el-Sheikh. But after the terror attacks, the resort was almost deserted and she moved to Cairo to work at some stables.

But in an oversight her travel insurance expired several weeks ago, and so her medical care in Cairo has to be paid for in cash.

Her brother, Trevor Fairclough, is flying out on Monday to be with his sister but said the family are desperate to get her home. A flight on an air ambulance, with the medical care she needs on board, is expected to cost about £30,000.

He said: "We need to raise enough funds to fly her back to England in a specialised air ambulance as soon as possible and get her the care that she needs.

"A surgeon from over here has said that the surgeon who is to operate on her back is good, but the rest of the medical care she is receiving is shocking. It concerns me that she has been in the same T-shirt for a week and that she can't reach the button to call for help.

"We also have to pay for her medical expenses in cold, hard cash. Fortunately we have a friend of a friend over there who is at her side in hospital and has been going to withdraw the cash for us bit by bit because we can't get that much cash out in one go.

"Olivia is feeling very isolated at the moment and is petrified at the thought of becoming permanently paralysed."

Miss Fairclough, a former Egglescliffe School pupil, is believed to have suffered a broken back, four broken ribs and is unable to move her legs after the horse reared, throwing her off, and then fell on her.

A Go Fund Me fundraising page has raised about £14,000 so far.

To donate, visit www.gofundme.com/bringhomeolivia