{"id":659059,"date":"2026-10-27T23:56:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T23:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/659059\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T23:56:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T23:56:19","slug":"nsw-family-stranded-in-tokyo-with-sons-medication-running-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/659059\/","title":{"rendered":"NSW family stranded in Tokyo with son\u2019s medication running out"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was meant to be the trip of a lifetime to celebrate their son\u2019s 18th birthday at Disneyland. <\/p>\n

Instead, a sudden medical emergency has left the James family stranded in a Tokyo hotel room, more than $50,000 out of pocket and running out of medicine.<\/p>\n

Be the first to know when news breaks. Download our new app<\/a><\/p>\n

New South Wales parents Mel and Brad James gifted their son Ryan, who has special needs, a trip to Japan <\/a>to celebrate the milestone birthday alongside his two younger siblings and grandparents.<\/p>\n

Ryan is diagnosed with autism<\/a>, Global Development Delay and Jordan\u2019s Syndrome \u2013 a rare genetic neurodevelopmental condition that affects under 500 people globally. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t buy him a car or give him a party because he doesn\u2019t like it so we wanted to give him something to remember,\u201d Ms James told news.com.au.<\/p>\n

The family flew out from Sydney earlier this month, with their first stop Tokyo.<\/p>\n

It was a trip the family had done two and a half years ago without issue, with Disneyland holding a special place in Ryan\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n

Photos shared with news.com.au show the James family cheerfully donning the same white T-shirts that said \u201cHappy Birthday\u201d in classic Disney font with a photo of Ryan\u2019s face with mickey mouse ears.<\/p>\n

The family enjoyed five days in Tokyo before they were due to fly out to Okinawa to further explore Japan.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when the holiday took a tragic turn<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trouble at the gates<\/p>\n

Despite flying on planes before and travelling to five separate countries in his lifetime, an unexpected trigger led to Ryan having a meltdown as he was due to board the domestic flight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was a good idea for him to go to the toilet before we got on the flight, so my husband took him to the toilet and that\u2019s when he just kept moving away from the gate,\u201d Ms James said.<\/p>\n

The mother-of-three told her mum and stepdad to take her two other children on the plane, hoping to meet them on-board once Ryan calmed down.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t get him on the plane, he went into a meltdown \u2013 raised voice, very loud, threw himself on the ground,\u201d Ms James said.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously that triggers the gates and the people there. So, they brought over the manager, we gave him some more medication to try and relax him but it didn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr and Ms James were forced to stay at the airport with their son, while the rest of the family departed to Okinawa with all of their passports and Ryan\u2019s medication on board.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, All Nippon Airways (ANA) was happy to accommodate the trio and booked them on the next flight, hoping Ryan would calm down.<\/p>\n

When that didn\u2019t work, the family were rescheduled for a night flight hoping Ryan would be tired enough to board.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe got on the flight. It takes time to shut the door and everything so by then he took off his seat belt and walked back up the ramp,\u201d Ms James said.<\/p>\n

Mr James added: \u201cWe didn\u2019t want to cause another meltdown and scare anyone\u201d. <\/p>\n

In defeat, the family went to a hotel to spend the night. <\/p>\n

No longer fit to fly<\/p>\n

While the family received their passports and medication back from the airline that night, they also received an email from ANA the following day informing them Ryan could not fly commercially unless he had a \u201cfit to fly\u201d certificate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were at a bit of a loss. We called the travel insurance and they started to ask for the medical history. And then we called the Australian Embassy and they told us that our direct point of call is the travel insurance company,\u201d Mr James said. <\/p>\n

With no clear answer, the family found an air repatriation company which could send a specialist to Japan to issue a fit to fly certificate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe paid a very large amount of money for that service and then got told a couple of days later that we need to pay even more money for the flight of the doctor to come to us plus Ryan and his business class ticket back to Sydney,\u201d Mr James said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we paid that again and the insurance company was still asking us for more and more information and finally after about seven days that private doctor from the air repatriation company arrived in Tokyo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Filled with hope, the family thought they\u2019d finally get their ticket back home to Australia last Friday. <\/p>\n

But to their disappointment, Ryan was deemed unfit to fly because there was no guarantee he would remain seated and not cause any distress. <\/p>\n

\u201cRyan can\u2019t meet that (criteria) unless he is absolutely KO\u2019d and for that to happen it\u2019s going to require him to be heavily sedated in a Japanese hospital, intubated, taken on a flight with a doctor that monitors his breathing all the way home to a Sydney hospital where they\u2019ll need to wake him up,\u201d Mr James said. <\/p>\n

The family provided the report to their travel insurance provider and are now waiting to find out how much it will cost them to have their son medevaced to Sydney. <\/p>\n

\u201c(The insurance) started to walk us through all the documents we\u2019ve given them and they said we hadn\u2019t declared that Ryan has Jordan\u2019s syndrome and his autistic and all that in our travel policy so be prepared to pay,\u201d Mr James said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe said \u2018look if that\u2019s the case, that\u2019s the case, we just want to come home and we want you to start the process of arranging that, not worrying about getting all your ducks in a row so you don\u2019t have to pay for this\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2018Isolated and alone\u2019<\/p>\n

The family are now waiting for quotes to have their son brought back to Australia, with zero certainty on when that will be.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the parents only have five days\u2019 worth of a particular medication for their son and have had to half his dosage in a bid to prolong it for as long as they can.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other stuff will run out within a fortnight as well, but that\u2019s the most important part because the medication is what keeps (Ryan) in a relatively normal mindset,\u201d Mr James said.<\/p>\n

The parents are also losing money to unexpected accommodation fees and are already $50,000 out of pocket for the private service they hired to have their son assessed. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day Ryan stays here, he\u2019s becoming more agitated because there\u2019s nothing to do,\u201d Ms James said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re jammed into a hotel room and we\u2019re trying not to spend too much money because we don\u2019t know financially how we\u2019re going to get him home,\u201d Mr James added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel isolated and alone \u2026 we just want to come home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adding to the heartache, Mr and Ms James were forced to send their two younger children home with their grandparents as it wasn\u2019t feasible to keep them all in Japan.<\/p>\n

A GoFundMe <\/a>has since been set up to aid the family\u2019s return home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe money gets us home but we will go into heavy financial debt to pay this back,\u201d Mr James said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery dollar helps alleviate that stress.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the family is praying for a miracle that will get their son home before his medication runs out.<\/p>\n

News.com.au has contacted the Australian Embassy and the family\u2019s travel insurance company for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was meant to be the trip of a lifetime to celebrate their son\u2019s 18th birthday at Disneyland.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[296590,296616,296629,296594,296670,4979,296628,296685,274877,296687,275386,296665,296663,296613,296596,296684,296627,263363,296691,296603,296605,296614,263424,296655,296683,258497,296607,296600,296661,296654,296611,296693,296608,296620,296622,296619,296633,296651,280890,296604,219903,296631,296609,972,486,20048,296689,3396,296672,296662,10332,105162,185179,13357,284614,296667,296593,296643,296681,296658,107158,163,296656,296660,296599,296680,296618,296641,296679,2607,17737,85,46,20384,1437,296637,2286,296623,209738,482,296635,296650,296674,2101,296668,249740,296602,296597,296595,296615,296688,262042,43,260196,296592,296606,296639,217692,296624,79985,296601,296673,69584,144113,296617,249190,296694,115373,296652,25436,296675,296649,296645,296686,128905,296589,296591,296646,296625,215871,258572,296598,296634,296671,296621,296678,270632,292654,296653,296669,296647,296632,296626,296676,283382,296640,296657,296638,262857,296682,296630,296642,296612,296644,247994,296690,296666,296636,296664,296610,296648,274010,296677,296692,762,1880,296659,25807],"class_list":["post-659059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-s-18th-birthday","tag-s-face","tag-s-heart-photos","tag-s-medication","tag-s-syndrome","tag-4979","tag-18yo","tag-500-people","tag-a-bit","tag-a-car","tag-a-couple","tag-a-doctor","tag-a-fit","tag-a-flight","tag-a-good-idea","tag-a-hotel","tag-a-japanese-hospital","tag-a-lifetime","tag-a-loss","tag-a-meltdown","tag-a-night-flight","tag-a-party","tag-a-photo","tag-a-rare-genetic-neurodevelopmental-condition","tag-a-special-place","tag-a-specialist","tag-a-sudden-fear","tag-a-sudden-medical-emergency","tag-a-sydney-hospital","tag-a-tokyo-hotel-room","tag-a-tragic-turn-trouble","tag-a-trip","tag-a-very-large-amount","tag-about-seven-days","tag-all-nippon-airways","tag-all-the-way-home","tag-an-air-repatriation-company","tag-an-aussie-family","tag-an-email","tag-an-unexpected-trigger","tag-ana","tag-another-meltdown","tag-any-distress","tag-australia","tag-autism","tag-board","tag-board-fortunately","tag-call","tag-certificate","tag-classic-disney-font","tag-criteria","tag-days","tag-defeat","tag-disneyland","tag-earlier-this-month","tag-even-more-money","tag-five-days","tag-five-separate-countries","tag-global-development-delay","tag-grandparents-ryan","tag-happy-birthday","tag-health","tag-her-mum-and-stepdad","tag-her-two-other-children","tag-his-breathing","tag-his-business-class-ticket","tag-his-lifetime","tag-his-seat-belt","tag-his-two-younger-siblings","tag-home","tag-hope","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-issue","tag-japan","tag-japan-that","tag-jordan","tag-ko","tag-last-friday","tag-medication","tag-medicine-be","tag-mel-and-brad-james","tag-mickey-mouse-ears-the-family","tag-money","tag-more-and-more-information","tag-more-than-50","tag-mother-of-three","tag-mr-and-ms-james","tag-mr-james","tag-ms-james","tag-ms-james-said-mr-james","tag-my-husband","tag-news","tag-news-com-au","tag-news-com-au-the-family","tag-no-clear-answer","tag-no-guarantee","tag-no-way-home","tag-nsw-family","tag-okinawa","tag-our-direct-point","tag-our-new-appnew-south-wales-parents","tag-planes","tag-pocket","tag-private-doctor","tag-ryan","tag-some-more-medication","tag-special-needs","tag-special-needs-son","tag-sydney","tag-that-night","tag-that-service","tag-the-air-repatriation-company","tag-the-airline","tag-the-airport","tag-the-australian-embassy","tag-the-doctor","tag-the-domestic-flight","tag-the-door-and-everything","tag-the-family","tag-the-first","tag-the-flight","tag-the-following-day","tag-the-gate","tag-the-gates","tag-the-gatesdespite","tag-the-ground","tag-the-holiday","tag-the-insurance-company","tag-the-james-family","tag-the-manager","tag-the-medical-history","tag-the-milestone-birthday","tag-the-next-flight","tag-the-night","tag-the-people","tag-the-plane","tag-the-ramp","tag-the-rest","tag-the-same-white-t-shirts","tag-the-toilet","tag-the-travel-insurance","tag-the-travel-insurance-company","tag-the-trio","tag-the-trip","tag-their-autistic-son","tag-their-disappointment","tag-their-dream-holiday","tag-their-first-stop-tokyo-it","tag-their-passports","tag-their-passports-and-medication","tag-their-son","tag-their-son-ryan","tag-their-ticket","tag-time","tag-tokyo","tag-two-and-a-half-years","tag-voice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.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