Dad told he'll never walk again after dream holiday ended in disaster
A dad has been left paralysed after a horrific motorbike accident during a dream holiday to visit his daughter in Thailand.
Lee Francis returned home on a stretcher after an agonising 18-hour flight and is now hospitalised in Wales. The 54-year-old dad of two is now warning other travellers about two precautions that he believes saved his life. Lee, from Church Village, thought his trip to visit his daughter Katie in Thailand would be a joyous reunion, but it turned into a nightmare when he and his wife Clare Francis crashed their motorcycle into a metal barrier on the last day of their trip.
In the aftermath, Lee found himself in intensive care with severe body trauma and was told he was paralysed from the waist down. His family says his life has been "forever changed" by his injuries.
"I still can't get my head around it," Lee shared with WalesOnline. "It has hit me for six. Our life is going to totally change and I'm just a bit worried about the future. I had a wonderful holiday with my daughter. This happened on our last day... the outcome is not great for me, to be honest."
Lee, who was a respected community occupational therapist in the Rhondda Cynon Taf area, has severe injuries including broken ribs, a fractured spine in three places and serious lung damage. His condition worsened in hospital, developing complications that severely impacted his treatment. As he became more stable, he underwent surgery which he hoped would help him keep the use of his legs. The surgery was successful but Lee was told he would never walk again.
Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him
Lee Francis in hospital (Katie Francis)For Lee, a man whose life revolved around sport and activity, this news was devastating. He enjoyed walking up Pen y Fan - something he said was his "bit of therapy." Back in the UK, Lee's other daughter Abigail and her step-siblings Dylan and Menna were busy ensuring his insurance covered the many surgeries and complications he was facing.
When Lee was ready, he endured a "traumatic" 18-hour stretcher flight home to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff. Sadly, it was confirmed that he was paralysed from the waist down.
Speaking to Wales Online just five days after returning home, he shared: "It's lovely to get back to Wales. It was quite traumatising being in hospital in Thailand. I was in a lot of excruciating pain, especially the first hospital I was in, and I had a bit of trauma coming home on the plane. Back in Wales, especially on this ward, they're phenomenal and have been really good to me. I've had a lot of tests and they have continued to unfortunately give me the diagnosis that I couldn't walk again. It's going to be a bit of a long process and it's devastating news as you can imagine."
Lee hopes to undergo spinal rehab soon to regain some mobility. His wife Clare Francis, who was also involved in the accident, suffered a concussion and deep abrasions but managed to escape severe injuries. Clare is now at home recovering from an illness related to her injuries. "She has been very tearful and emotional," Lee added. "She supported me for days and days in the hospital, but now I haven't seen her for three or four days because she can't come in. She's going through it emotionally."
Lee's daughter Katie has cut her travel plans short to be with him (Katie Francis)
Lee Francis is now learning to live a completely different life (Katie Francis)Despite the challenging weeks, Lee's spirit remains unbroken. While still in hospital, he dreams of getting back into sport: "It would be a dream, but I don't know how capable I'm going to be," he said. He has already considered wheelchair basketball: "If I'm in a wheelchair, perhaps I can still help out with a local basketball club, hopefully coaching."
He credits his survival to wearing a helmet during the accident. "My helmet smashed totally in half," he said. "I think if I didn't wear it I wouldn't be here today. I want to make people aware going out to places like Thailand that wearing protective gear on the motorbike saved my life. Also, I spent about three hours doing travel insurance with my daughter and I was just going to go for the cheapest one."
"If I hadn't gone for the dearer one, I wouldn't have had insurance to cover me. I want to make people aware - that is so important. The hospital we went to, they were saying it happens all the time, and I don't want it to happen to anyone else."
Now, Lee is facing a tough reality many disabled people know all too well. He's worried about his job as an occupational therapist and is trying to adapt his home to keep his independence. But there's only one loo in his house, and it's upstairs. He wants to put in a wet room and ramps, thinking he'll need a wheelchair when he gets home. But money is tight, and he knows this better than anyone.
"It's means-tested and it's a very strict regime that they go through.," he said. "They put it through the computer and it comes out if you qualify or not. I know for a fact I won't because I've gone through this process with so many other people. It's a hard one, and it's cruel in a way, but I understand they've only got so much funding because I work for the council."
The helmet broke into several pieces (Katie Francis)Daughter Katie told about the family's struggle by saying: "Since the whole accident happened it has been traumatic. It wasn't just his spinal injury: There were a lot of things that went wrong and we weren't sure at one point whether he would survive, to be honest. We've all had a bit of a difficult year. Me and my sister lost our mother in September and that was a big hit for us and when this happened to my dad we were scared it was going to happen again."
Disabled woman paralysed after falling from wheelchair on plane walkway dies
"It was actually my dad who made me turn around. The day after he got his diagnosis he was like: 'Right, I'm not going to let this affect me, I'm going to make the most out of my life.' The only thing holding him back was that he might not be able to be comfortable in his own home."
You can support them in their mission to refurbish their house through GoFundMe.
Speaking about the fundraising, Lee added: "[The GoFundMe] is not me, I'm a very private person and I don't like taking stuff off anybody. But my priority is trying to get my house adapted, to ease off my wife and myself. Everybody has been so generous so far. It's quite overwhelming."
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
