Lost ... Hayden Adcock thought he wouldn`t survive his 11-day ordeal in a jungle in Laos.
Hayden Adcock returns home
Still in hospital, unable to move hands or feet
Didn`t think he`d survive 11-day jungle ordeal
A 40-YEAR-OLD Australian man lost in a Laotian jungle for 11 days said he thought he was "close to the end".
Hayden Adcock, 40, from Yandina on the Sunshine Coast arrived back home today.
He is in a weak condition in the Royal Brisbane and Women`s Hospital, and is unable to move his hands or feet.
Mr Adcock suffered multiple organ failure, internal bleeding and bites from insects and animals after he became lost on a short walk to a waterfall in a national park in the Khammouane province of Laos on July 31.
Wearing only a T-shirt, shorts and walking shoes during the ordeal, Mr Adcock said he thought his life was over.
"I was laying there thinking that 40 years was a good life," he said.
"But then the second thought was all about the other people, in particular, my father and my mother...and a lot of my mates, they`ve got a lot of kids and seeing them grow up."
A helicopter search found him in a serious condition on August 10 and he was airlifted to hospital in Bangkok, Thailand.
Still unable to walk, Hayden Adcock said he was attacked by flesh-eating lizards which almost skinned his feet during his ordeal.
"After about the fourth night, I thought I can only take one more night," Mr Adcock told the Seven Network.
"Towards the end there, it took me about half-an-hour to go from a lying down position to standing up."
But it was the hundreds of lizards that caused him the most pain, eating his skin from dusk to dawn, he said.
Mr Adcock partly blames his ordeal on advice he was given by locals, informing him he didn`t need a tour guide to complete the 3km walk to the waterfall.
Mr Adcock said he did not remember being rescued but when he is able to walk again, he wants to return to Laos to thank his rescuers.
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