Below is a copy of an email sent to me regarding Colin who has had a bad accident whilst on holiday in Africa.

Will post more news as soon as we get it.

 

 

Hi Richard

 

I’m Simon McDonnell, Colin’s brother & he asked me to drop you a line with some news.

 

I ride a Triumph Tiger & thought it would be a great idea to buy Colin a bike so we could do some touring whilst he’s out here on Holiday. I got hold of a BM 650GS ( I know...hardly a Guzzi, but budgets dictate!) Anyway, we cruised through some Mountain passes in the Midlands and generally had a blast, until we decided to see some of the battlefields from the Anglo-Boer War. About 3 km’s from Spioenkop (where the Liverpool Regiment was wiped out...giving rise to the famous LFC ‘The Kop’) Colin misjudged a gentle curve (I say misjudged because I didn’t notice any topless blondes), left the road, went down an embankment, into a ditch and through some woods (having left the bike in the ditch) The result: A broken left femur, broken right shoulder, broken ribs, cracked sternum, punctured lung, and bruising like he’d done 5 rounds with Mike Tyson. It was a rough afternoon, but eventually got to a decent hospital at 19h30 that night (prang was at 11h30), and he underwent a 4 hour op to put him back together. 4 days in ICU, and now in the Surgical ward, his sense of humour is returning and he’s learning new skills involving Bedpans etc.

 

We’re hoping to have him out by the weekend, but he will be wheelchair bound for the next few months (doing a leg AND a shoulder kinda rules out crutches for now) so he won’t be at the next few meets.

 

The injured lung will prevent him flying for a few days, but once we have details of his return trip....I’ll let you know.

 

All the best!

 

Simon

 

That's a really serious test of one's sense of humour. Glad to hear he's going to be OK although no doubt it will take a while to be fully fit.

 

Best Wishes.