Biker has crash – which saves his life

2:47pm Monday 24th March 2008

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A motorcyclist's life was saved when doctors treating him after a crash noticed he had a deadly illness.

Fred Player, 58, of Brendon Way, Worthing, was thrown from his bike in a collision with a car in Littlehampton on February 9.

While he was being treated at Worthing Hospital, medics found one of his arteries was 95 per cent blocked - a condition which could have led to a heart attack.

He had a tube fitted to open up the artery and increase the blood flow.

He said: "I remember young ladies holding my head while I was lying down on the pavement.

"They were talking to me to try and keep me awake. I remember hearing helicopter blades and then the next thing I remember is waking up in hospital on the Monday morning."

Mr Player's good fortune has been of little comfort as he sustained terrible injuries in the accident.

He has had to have his big toe on his left foot amputated, has two broken bones in his left leg, torn muscles in his shoulder and a cracked hip.

Three pedestrians were injured in the accident. Heidi Cheeseman, from Lancing, her eight-year-old son Jack and their family friend Mark Phelps from Worthing are all believed to recovering from their injuries.

The car driver, Graham Hart, 24, of Beacon Road, Littlehampton, was uninjured.

Mr Player, a process technician for GlaxoSmithKline in Worthing, spent five weeks in hospital recovering and needed around 19 pints of blood during his treatment.

He returned home last week to be with wife Sylvia and their two children and said it was "brilliant" to be back with his family.

But he must keep his weight off his leg for 28 weeks while the broken bones knit back together around a titanium rod.

If they don't, the leg will have to be amputated as well.

Mr Player said he didn't remember anything about the accident, which happened at the junction of Irvine Road and Beach Road.

His Triumph Rocket was written off and he is awaiting a payout from his insurance company.

He said he finds it impossible to feel lucky that doctors found his blocked artery while he is suffering so badly from the effects of the accident.

Sylvia said: "It has turned our lives upside down."

Fred has had only one other accident in 35 years of biking, when he skidded on a patch of diesel in the road two years ago, fell of his bike and broke his right arm.

He said: "I'm a very careful rider. I obey the speed limits and donít take risks."

Hart will appear at Chichester Crown Court on April 7 charged with dangerous driving, grievous bodily harm and actual bodily harm.