‘I’d just love to get the chance to live a normal life again’

A GoFundMe page for a Ramelton man who suffered severe injuries in a motocross race last year has been set up to continue his rehabilitation.

On May 8 last, Ben McGarvey from Coylin Court, was hurtled after his bike whiskey throttled at the top of the jump and was he forced to let go, dropping vertically from some 30 feet into the air and landed heavily on both feet at a race on the old pitch and putt course at the Pin Tavern site in Letterkenny. He sustained two complex broken ankles with severe laceration and knock-on effects and is still waiting on an MRI scan on his knee.

His recovery has been drawn out and difficult, although the now 21-year-old has shown incredible spirit in the hope of finding light at the end of the tunnel and getting back to something resembling a normal life.

 

Ben following his accident, which took place in Letterkenny last year

A service engineer for Domestic Appliances Services Letterkenny by trade, Ben was always on his feet fixing washing machines and dishwashers and what have you. That Sunday morning, Ben and his father Mark were first in Letterkenny ahead of the race. Ben’s mother Carole later arrived with daughter Lauren, who turned 17 that day. Carole recently posted what the last 12 months has entailed for her eldest son.

“To put a bit of perspective on it, Ben has had 73 days in hospital - including 68 consecutive days, 65 of which were in Galway,” she wrote. “He only saw 11 different people during that time visitor-wise. Since then he has had 13 surgeries, the first of which was on the day of the accident, with the most recent on February 21. In the last year Ben has been 46 days bed-bound, spent 42 days with a cage on his left foot and was 102 days in a wheelchair.

“I attempted to calculate the miles for all the round trips to Galway University hospital - 322 miles return - and Roscommon hospital, 256 miles, but gave up as there are so many.”

Ben was a rugby player who represented Ulster at underage level

Of the race that fateful day, Ben’s recollections are clear.

“I just put my head down and ended up in the dirt,” he recalls. “At the top of a hill there was a tabletop jump and a drop off, so once you’re on the tabletop then there’s the verge, and I kind of fell backwards after my foot slipped off the peg, which caused me to grab.a handful of throttle, and it was a matter of making a quick decision, so I let go of the bike. I did reach for it for a second but knew I couldn’t grab it as it was too far in front of me. I hit the ground, landed in a heap but feet first, and, even now, I can still hear the reaction from the crowd.

“I’ve had plenty of falls before - one of them a few weeks before even ended up getting a million views on Tiktok - but there was never anything that would’ve kept me out. When I was lying there I could see other fellas coming over the hill but the yellow flags went up - that’s done to signal that someone was off and to take care and not jump.

“I remember it all, bar getting into the jeep to be moved as I was just lying with my eyes closed. All I felt was burning and the first thing I noticed was the pain in my knee. I knew straight away my two ankles were broken, but initially thought the damage was further up my legs. I knew it wasn’t a back injury, so in some ways that was a relief even then, but it was so hot in the MX gear. It felt claustrophobic.

“The boots I had on have a seriously good support to give stability. But the metatarsal bone, which is small, split through both of them. I had a pair of white socks on, I remember, that weren’t too white then.”

Carole had been recording parts of the race, although had stopped on the phone moments before Ben’s accident. She was first on the scene, along with Lauren and later joined by Amy Booth, who is now Ben’s girlfriend. They feared the worst, like what if he landed on his back or his head?

“I saw Ben coming over the hill and the bike launched into the air,” she says. £Ben was in the air with no bike. The bike bounced and flipped and I just froze for a second thinking ‘is he going to move?’. He did and I ran over - I was only maybe 20 feet away - and he told me straight away his legs were broken. Lauren had gone off to get the first aiders and it was the last lap of the race so the red flags didn’t have to go out. He just wanted to get the helmet off, with the heat from it.”

If you would like to help Ben on his road to recovery please click here for his GoFundMe page

Ben had been racing motorbikes since childhood, although by his late teens was putting more focus on a developing rugby career, which had seen him progress as a prop, flanker or No8 for Letterkenny Rugby Club onto City of Derry, and also through the Ulster underage ranks.

Following the accident, Ben was in resus - also known as the trauma unit - in Letterkenny University Hospital and was given an epidural to numb the pain of the broken bones and torn ligaments, with his ankles wired in place. The left, in particular, was troublesome, as it constantly dislocated.

Ben McGarvey competed in motocross

A week and two operations later, Ben was still in Letterkenny, and was still unsure over his exact condition before being moved to Galway University Hospital. The information, at Ben’s request, was primarily being fed over the phone back to his father Mark at home.

“When I was first in Galway, I was in theatre for maybe four and a half hours and they put screws and a plate in my right ankle,” Ben says. “Then, the left, which was really bad as my talus (bone that makes up the lower part of the ankle joint) bone was shattered. It wasn’t until I was in Galway that I heard there was talk of amputations being a serious possibility.

“It was scary as I was in Galway on my own. When I had been in Letterkenny, my form wasn’t too bad as I just thought I had two badly broken ankles and that was it. I thought it would be a case of maybe four operations, a week or two in hospital and off home. I only thought four operations was going to be bad. I saw photos and only then saw the whole side and sole of my left foot was completely cut open.”

With Covid restrictions still in place, frequent visiting was difficult. Ben admits being “wiped out” in Galway for spells with pain-killers, in oxygen chambers and sleeping a lot, passing his time keeping up to date on what was happening in the world on his phone, or spending time drawing. Counselling was never an option given as his issues were not within the framework for such an offering, although Ben credits another Donegal family for their support.

Sixteen-year-old Daniel McCloskey, was also there, recovering from a serious foot injury. A student at Coláiste na Carraige and player for Kilcar, Daniel is a cousin of footballers Ryan McHugh and his brother Mark. Ben and Daniel would spend time together and the families helped one another through the difficult times.

“If it wasn’t for them I don’t know if I would’ve managed to stay down there so long,” Ben says of Daniel’s parents, who were staying in Galway - Paul and Una, brother Rory and sister Zoe from Bavin. “It was great to speak to people from so close to home.”

Ben spent two months in hospital following his accident

Having left home that May morning, it was July before Ben saw Ramelton again. He felt the goalposts were changing as there were days when he thought he would get back, but many wouldn’t work out as planned. He stared at the ceiling with a cast on his right foot and a protective cage on the left, to keep his ankle in place, although there were complications, with blood-flow and cartilage issues. When the cast was removed, it was learned the skin wasn’t healing and the broken metatarsal was also a worry. Eventually, when he got home, Ben was in a wheelchair, with his feet elevated for the guts of six months. The house was adapted to be wheelchair accessible, with a wet room.

“There wasn’t much I could do as even if the bones healed quickly there was going to be an issue with my skin,” he says. “There was no chance of me getting back on my feet at that stage, or even to get much physio and that set me back another level.”

Carole says: “It was horrible without Ben at home. When he got back, the house just felt more relaxed. Ben’s little brother Andy, 12, found it difficult to see him like that when he was in Galway and he, like the rest of us, was delighted to have Ben back.”

There were trips down and up, more of less once a week, to meet with Ms Deirdre Jones, Consultant Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon, at her clinics in Roscommon and Professor Stephen Kearns, the Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at Merlin Park in Galway.

“There was non-stop running and sitting in the car can be very painful, having to lift my feet to an elevated position up on the dash or with pillows,” Ben says. “Now, I don’t feel too bad. I’m still in pain a lot of the time. It’s never really gone, with skin grafts on my right foot it’s so tender. My left foot is getting worse. It has become arthritic,

Professor Kearns has recommended that Ben and his family consider a total talus (a surgical treatment for talar avascular necrosis, replacing the entire talus) with Dr Selene Parekh, an orthopaedic surgeon specialising in the treatment and conditions of the foot and ankle. He is known for utilising state-of-the-art implants and techniques to offer limb salvage, based between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The replacement talus is 3D printed in the States and the procedure would hopefully be done here in Ireland

“I’ve been walking without crutches for the last month or so,” Ben adds. “From casts and cages, to a wheelchair to crutches, and boots on, it’s even a confidence thing trying to walk again. It was a matter of easing pressure very gradually onto my feet.

If you would like to help Ben on his road to recovery please click here for his GoFundMe page

“I can do a little bit more about the house. Some mornings I can get up and get away and brush my teeth and others it’s slow with the pain.I didn’t want to be taking pain-killers all the time so stopped and my knee is the worst of the lot now. The issue with it has yet to be fully diagnosed. My feet make me naturally imbalanced and that is made worse by my knee’s condition. I was very fit at the time of the accident, particularly through rugby, and that has probably stood to me.”

“His strength to get through this makes you realise just how amazing he is,” Carole adds. “He never complains and even the day of the accident there was no screaming, shouting or roaring. None of that. Thank you too to anyone who has supported Ben during this. We’re so appreciative.”

Ben concludes: “People have been brilliant and thank you. I’ll keep going. The way it is at the minute, there’s no way I can even go back to work and be on my feet all day. The hope now is to get some proper physiotherapy, so that I can return to work and hopefully postpone surgery for a while. I’d just love to get the chance to live a normal life again.”