A man was left in a coma after falling down a flight of stairs at a bar in Spitalfields in the early hours of Christmas Eve.
Kyri Kyriacou has been left unable to move the right-hand side of his body and can not breathe by himself following the “freak accident,” his brother said.
Mr Kyriacou, who is from Walthamstow but now lives in Canada, had been spending some time in London after his sister was diagnosed with cancer.
The 49-year-old was catching up with old friends when he missed a step and fell down a “whole flight of concrete stairs” at Be At One in Spitalfields.
He suffered a severe head injury when he fell and needed a life-saving operation to release pressure on his brain.
His brother Greg Kyriacou told the Standard: “They say they don’t know the extent of damage to his brain until he responds more.
“It’s going to be up to five years that he is going to be like this, which is really upsetting for us.”
Mr Kyriacou visited the bar himself as he went to pick up his brother’s shoes after the accident. He continued: “The stairs are narrow and they are steep.
“When I saw them I wanted to cry. There’s no carpet it’s just hard floor.”
The brother explained that the Met Police had also visited the bar after the accident and had ruled out foul play after seeing CCTV footage of the fall.
He added: “He makes music. It’s going to be really sad if he stays like this. It’s going to be heartbreaking.
“A lot of people like his music. He showed me some snippets of it. We are all just hoping that he comes out of this.”
On a GoFundMe page, Greg Kyriacou added: “It seems a very bad idea having to go down so many stairs to visit the loo especially after having a few drinks.
“I visited this place to collect some of Kyri's belongings.”
Since Mr Kyriacou was on a temporary contract he does not have any regular income coming in and a fundraiser has been set up to help support him, his brother added.
Greg Kyriacou wrote: “It is extremely difficult for us seeing our beloved Kyri in this state as he had so much going for him in life.
“We pray that he makes a good recovery but it will be a very long hard journey.
“Kyri was not in permanent employment. He had a temporary contract which was about to be renewed for another 6 months.
“But since this has happened it is no longer valid and he has no more money coming in.
“We are very concerned as he has mortgage commitments etc and has no income now and we don't want him to lose everything he's worked so hard to achieve, which is why we are setting up this GoFundMe appeal.”
A spokesperson for Be At One said: "This was a terrible accident, with emergency services being called immediately to the venue. The entire Be At One team wishes the guest a full recovery."
