A chef from Tyneside has been told he could lose his leg after a holiday motorbike crash left him with horrific injuries.
Ryan Brooke, from Monkseaton, near Whitley Bay, had been enjoying a break in Crete with his partner, when the collision happened.
The 29-year-old can not remember how he came off the hired motorbike, on Friday.
Ryan was taken to Heraklion General hospital where medics operated on his severely damaged leg.
But his girlfriend, Elaine Lo-Giudice, says they have been told Ryan could lose the limb if he is not flown back to the UK as soon as possible for more surgery, that is not available on the Greek island.
At first the couple were told it could cost as much as £45,000 to safely transport Ryan home by air ambulance. and Elaine set about desperately trying to raise the funds needed for the trip, which would not be covered by their travel insurance.
But Ryan has since posted a video on the online fundraising page, to which more than £10,000 has been donated, saying that he's found a way to get home by commercial flights which will cost around £8,500.
He said: "I just wanted to thank everybody from the bottom of my heart. The most important thing is getting back home now."
Elaine, 37, who lives in Whitley Bay, said: "Ryan is terrified. I got told he had to get an air ambulance straight away or he could lose his leg. They said he needs to get back to the UK as quickly as possible.
"He's got more fractures and he needs two more operations. It' not something they can do."
Elaine stayed at the hotel when Ryan went on on the bike alone, three days into their holiday.
The first she knew of the collision was when a member of staff knocked on the room door to tell her Ryan had been taken to hospital.
When Elaine took a taxi to the hospital she eventually found a stranger that could help translate for her.
"When I got there Ryan was in the middle of having scans done," she said. "I spoke to one of the doctors and they said he had major fractures to his leg and they had to get him to surgery."
But following the operation doctors told the couple that Ryan would need further surgery to repair his shattered bones, that doctors on the island could not perform.
And after being told that the only safe way to get him back home would be by air ambulance, Elaine was devastated to discover the couple's travel insurance would not cover such a trip.
Then the couple were hit with a further blow when they discovered the potential cost of getting Ryan, who works at Lola Jeans in Tynemouth, home safely.
Elaine set up a page on the crowdfunding site GoFundMe to try and cover the costs.
In his update on the page Ryan said he has been told he can travel by ambulance to the airport in Greek where he can board a flight to Frankfurt and then another to Heathrow in London.
He will then travel to Newcastle by ambulance.
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