ALMOST £30,000 has been raised to support a mountain biker left paralysed from the chest down following an incident in woodland near Dyserth last month.
Chris Williams, from Mold, was airlifted to hospital after North Wales Police, Wales Air Ambulance, the Welsh Ambulance Service and the Coastguard all attended the incident, in Cwm Woods, at about 10pm on May 7.
The dad, whose second child had been born roughly five weeks earlier, damaged his spinal cord at C6/C7 in his neck, which left him with limited hand movement and paralysed from the chest down.
Though he has been recovering well at The Walton Centre, Liverpool, and has been taken off its intensive therapy unit, his wife, Catrin, set up the GoFundMe page, with a target of £50,000 to help fund further treatment.
She and Chris married on May 21, 2022, so “had our anniversary in the intensive therapy unit”.
Catrin added that she “can’t believe” the amount of money raised in just two days for “special” Chris, which has left her feeling “a bit emotional”.
You can make a donation yourself at: www.gofundme.com/f/pxt7vw-chris-williams-spinal-rehabilitation.
READ MORE: ‘Seriously injured’ mountain biker taken to hospital after incident near St Asaph
“He’s got (fitness application) Strava, so he always sends me a ‘beacon’ to say he’s started a ride,” she said.
“He went biking on his own, but I began to wonder why he hadn’t called back, so I looked at his beacon which showed that he’d stopped for a long time.
“He normally answers the phone straight away, but this time, he didn’t answer. I had the two kids at home, and called his parents, who agreed to go and check it out with us.
“We were getting close, and as I called out for him, he called back, so we knew he was alive, which was the best thing ever.
“His phone was in his pocket, so because he was paralysed (by the accident), he couldn’t reach it. If he hadn’t had the Strava beacon on, it could have taken hours to find him.”
After the rescue mission was carried out by the emergency services, Chris underwent eight-hour surgery to stabilise his neck.
His full recovery could take up to two years, with the plan for Chris to be moved to a specialist NHS spinal unit in Gobowen for intense rehabilitation.
He will likely still need further treatment after that, though, which will have to be private, so donations received will go towards this, as well as supporting his wife and children.
Chris, a college assessor, plays guitar in a band called “50 Hertz” and has many friends, his wife, an audiologist, added.
Catrin said: “Chris is an amazing man; the most caring man, who is a devoted father to two young girls.
“His family do genuinely mean the world to him. He is very protective of his family, so not being with them is torture.
“However, this is one of the main reasons he is so determined to recover the best he can.
“He works hard and has an active lifestyle. He loves being outdoors, with his family, out on the bike and walking the dog. He is desperate for this to be in his life again.
“Although Chris is keen to work in the future, we have to maintain a family life with two babies, pay the mortgage and finance the travel to Liverpool.
“Chris would also like to say thank you for the messages of support, and all money not used will be donated to Mountain Rescue and the Wales Air Ambulance.”
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