A dad-of-two has been left paralysed from the chest down after crashing his mountain bike in North Wales.
Chris Williams was airlifted to hospital on May 7 after suffering serious injuries on a woodland trail near Rhuallt, St Asaph. The "life-changing" crash left the "devoted" dad with a damaged spinal cord.
After a "gruelling" mountain rescue operation that lasted hours, he underwent an eight-hour surgery at The Walton Centre, which specialises in treating spinal injuries, to stabilise his neck.
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Chris and his family have been warned of the long and "uncertain" road that lies ahead with his recovery. His wife, Catrin, said it could take up to two years before he recovers and the plan is for him to be moved to the specialist NHS unit in Gobowen for his rehab before starting further private treatment.
A fundraiser set up last week to raise money to support Chris and his family through this phase of his recovery has already raised more than £36,000 of its £50,000 target, North Wales Live reports.
Writing on the page, Catrin said Chris is "desperate" to get back to his "active lifestyle" and that the treatment funded in part by the donations will help him achieve this.
Catrin said: "On Sunday the May 7, Chris had a devastating accident on his mountain bike. Unfortunately he has damaged his spinal cord at C6/C7 in his neck, this initially means he has limited hand movement and is paralysed from the chest down. For Chris and his loving family this is life changing.
"He was rushed to the Walton Centre by air ambulance after a gruelling rescue by Mountain Rescue and Air Ambulance, has had an eight hour surgery to stabilise his neck and has been in intensive care (in here he also had to recover from a nasty chest infection and was nearly ventilated). He has started slow recovery, is currently resting and doing low level physio. Already he has shown us as a family how strong and determined he is.
"Chris is an amazing man, the most caring man, who is a devoted father to two young girls (9 weeks and 20 month). His family do genuinely mean the world to him. He is very protective over 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.
"Chris has many friends and plays in a band, 50 Hertz. 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. Unfortunately we are told that all spinal injuries are very different and the road of recovery will be uncertain. What we do know is that it is going to be a long one and unfortunately will be quite expensive."
She added his private rehabilitation will be intense and that the family may need to spends tens of thousands of pounds on home adaptations for Chris.
Catrin added: "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. This is essentially why we have set up this Go Fund Me page, to give him the opportunity to make the best recovery he can with specialised physio.
"But to also offer him this opportunity to make a successful recovery without worrying about his family and to enable him to spend his rehabilitation in a family home.
"Chris would also like to say thank you for the messages of support and that all money not used will be donated to Mountain Rescue and Air Ambulance."
You can view the fundraiser here.
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