Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
An Australian influencer and renowned party boy has been severely injured after an “explosion” in his Sydney apartment left him with serious burns to 20 per cent of his body.
Gian Carlo Zapata is a high-profile socialite in Sydney known to throw luxury yacht parties on Sydney Harbour featuring glamorous women and friends, and is also the founder of Gaze Marketing Agency.
He took to his Instagram on Monday to inform his 10,000 followers that he “recently had an accident where there was an explosion in my apartment and my entire body was on fire for a few seconds”.
“I ended up in a coma for two weeks, but I finally opened my eyes two days ago.”
The fire happened inside his Kingsford apartment in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, about 11pm on May 29.
NSW Fire and Rescue sent out eight firefighters to battle the blaze after crews were alerted to the activation of an automatic fire alarm.
A FRNSW spokesman told PerthNow firefighters found the fire had ignited before they arrived on scene and that a male person had been injured.
Multiple NSW Ambulance crews attended, including intensive care paramedics who treated Zapata for burns before taking him to Royal North Shore Hospital.
On May 31, Zapata’s friend Lex Novak started a GoFundMe to help raise $22,000 to go towards the influencer’s recovery and financial burden as a result of the fire.
The Australian community have wrapped their arms around Zapata with more than $20,000 raised as of Wednesday morning.
Ms Novak said it has been “an incredibly traumatic and uncertain time for Gian, his family and everyone who loves him”.
“While his focus will be on fighting through the days, weeks and months of recovery ahead, the financial burden of this accident will continue to grow,” she said on the GoFundMe page.
“We have created this fundraiser to help ease some of that pressure and allow Gian and his family to focus on what matters most, his recovery.”
Ms Novak said the money raised will go towards rent and living expenses while he is unable to work, medical costs not covered by insurance or Medicare and rehabilitation needs.
“Gian is a much-loved son, brother, friend and member of our community. Anyone who knows him knows his kindness, generosity and willingness to help others. Now it’s our turn to support him when he needs it most,” Ms Novak added.
On Tuesday, Zapata took to Instagram to share that doctors had cleared him to eat solid foods again, alongside a photo of a food platter consisting of sushi, fried squid rings and spring rolls.
He also confirmed that he never asked for a GoFundMe page to be organised.
“To be clear, I never asked for charity,” he said.
“The people who love me saw a catastrophic medical emergency, knew the brutal reality of bills, rent and months of the different types of healing I’d have to go through and acted out of pure desperation and love to protect you.”
“Having 20 per cent of your body burned and surviving a coma is a profound gruelling ordeal.”
