Martial arts fighter Christian Richardson has spoken in detail for the first time about the crash that nearly killed him.
As YorkMix reported previously, Christian suffered terrible injuries in a motorbike accident in Thailand on 13 April.
Now he has told YorkMix Radio that he really shouldn’t still be here, given how serious the impact was.
He told us about the impact:
“I can picture the truck coming towards me and basically me bracing myself for the impact.
“I was trying to get across the road, on my bike and the truck was actually driving quite fast. But I think he tried to miss me, and then kind of drove straight into me.
“Luckily, I hit the corner of the truck and so I kind of bounced off it, then I think my head hit the wing mirror.
“But yeah, I remember just waking up on the road, and just thinking, Oh, this actually happened!
“There were a lot of people around me, it was quite scary. I said to them like, am I dead?
“I just looked down and there was just a lot of blood coming out of my hip. I said, just tell me, have I still got my legs? Because there was a bit of a weird pain.”
Christian was initially treated at a hospital in Koh Samui for three days before being airlifted to Bangkok for further surgery. He is now back in Koh Samui.
He’s been fighting a bad infection in his foot where he had a large open wound. He has also required eye and facial surgery to repair a broken cheekbone and a bad orbital floor fracture.
‘Miracle’ that it wasn’t worse
He thinks his fitness levels were his saving grace.
“I’m probably about 60kg now but I was like 71 before the crash because i’d been to fight camp. So I was a strong guy.
“I survived because of that, I really shouldn’t be here. I mean, it’s a miracle that I didn’t have any brain or spinal injuries. I didn’t lose a limb.
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“You know, I shouldn’t be here and that’s just what got me through it.”
He had bought medical cover for the trip but wasn’t wearing a helmet at the time of the crash which led the insurance company to refuse to pay.
How you can help
A Gofundme page was set up to raise money towards his treatment. And it’s already halfway towards its £60K target.
A raffle has now been launched as part of the efforts to raise funds to help pay for treatment and get him home again.
Christian’s sister Emmy Watson, who runs Gillygate Framing, told YorkMix: “We have over 50 raffle prizes from the incredibly generous York businesses and beyond.
“It includes a stay in Galtres Lodge, a six course tasting meal for two from Hotel Du Vin, and art from well known York artist Emily Sutton.
“The support we’ve had since this nightmare began has been incredible, the kindness of friends and customers is overwhelming.
“Thanks to them we’ve managed to raise over half the GoFundMe amount, we stand at around £35,000 roughly, including some cash donations.
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“Hopefully the raffle will give us that boost to help reach our target. It’s so important we keep fundraising as the current medical bill stands at over £100,000 now, so any money raised will go straight to covering his hospital bill.
“Christian is doing well and back on Koh Samui, recovering.
“He still can’t walk as the skin graft is still healing but he’s getting there.
“He won’t be able to fly for a while because of his facial surgery but hopes to have a timeline soon.”