Important – A lengthy followup and update can be found here – After suffering a ruptured aneurysm during a conference in Costa Rica in April and later being put in a coma after several surgeries, a professor is stranded without the means to return to the United States.

Associate professor of Science and Environmental Education Julie Lambert has spent the last six weeks in Hospital Clinica Biblica in San Jose because of the sudden medical condition, which is similar to a stroke and causes bleeding into the brain.

According to Alana Edwards, the education and training coordinator for FAU’s Center for Environmental Studies and a close friend to Lambert, Lambert had arrived for the conference in the nation’s capital on April 16 before suffering the aneurysm three days later in her hotel room.

“I was covering her class that morning and I went to the secretary’s office to grab the keys to Julie’s office and get materials for her class,” Edwards said. “That’s when I found out what had happened.”

Lambert is unable to return to the U.S. because the required medevac out of the country is costly.

“The medevac is over $25,000,” Edwards said. “We have no idea how much the medical bills are in Costa Rica.”

Edwards created a GoFundMe page to help raise money for Lambert’s return home.

She has crowdfunded over $2,000 in the first 20 hours of the page’s existence. The fundraising goal is set at $50,000 and all money donated will go directly to Lambert’s brother Stephen. As of Saturday morning, a total of $4,345 had been raised.

The Costa Rica Star wishes a safe return home and a speedy recovery for Professor Lambert. FAU alumni and friends of the institution are encouraged to visit her GoFundMe page.