British expat who launched online appeal to help pay for medical bills undergoes surgery

A British expat in Chiang Rai who took to YouTube to appeal for donations to help him pay for major heart operation has undergone surgery.

Graham Briar, who vlogs about life in rural Thailand on his Graham & Pie YouTube channel earlier this month appealed to his 5,000+ subscribers for money to help pay his medical bills.

Graham posted a series of videos on YouTube live from his hospital bed where he said he had suffered a heart attack and that doctors told him he would need a triple heart bypass.

However, because he lives in Thailand without any health insurance and does not have sufficient funds to pay for the treatment, which he said would cost between 600,000 and 1 million baht, Graham asked his subscribers to donate money to him via his PayPal account.

Graham later posted a video, which has now been deleted, to reveal that one of his viewers had offered to cover all of his medical costs.

It is not known if the anonymous donation is what has paid for his surgery on Wednesday.

In another video, also now deleted, Graham hit out at out trolls who made “truly vile posts” on his YouTube live updates.

He said that someone even emailed him to say he wished he was dead and that Graham and his wife had staged the whole thing for financial gain.

Thaivisa contacted Graham last week regarding the “truly vile posts” and other claims made in some of the comments on his videos but have not yet received a reply.

On Wednesday, Graham’s wife Pie posted a video update on YouTube explaining that Graham has had surgery and was in ICU.

In the video, a clearly emotional Pie said that Graham’s surgery lasted around 9 hours.

“I hope him OK”, Pie said.

People commenting on the video were full of support for Graham and Pie, with many wishing the popular vlogger a speedy recovery.

Thai Visa

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