British Jávea triathlete goes under knife again
Scott Gordon was one of the cyclists injured in the infamous N-332 incident in which three were killed
'SUPER-SURGEON' Dr Pedro Cavadas has operated on N-332 crash victim Scott Gordon for the fourth time in less than a year - and the injured cyclist says he 'hopes it will be the last'.
British triathlete Scott one of three survivors in the six-strong team from Jávea who were mown down on Mother's Day 2017 by a drunk driver in Oliva - underwent 10 operations via the public health service to try to rebuild his smashed thigh, without success.
In desperation, he turned to world-famous Dr Cavadas, then based at the public hospital in Manises, near Valencia airport, and who has a long track record of reimplanting severed limbs and transplanting donor arms, legs and faces.
Exactly 11 months ago, Scott went into surgery in Manises for the first time, where Dr Cavadas - who has now left the state service and only practises privately - carried out an arthroplasty on the UK-born athlete's knee and a bone distraction on his tibia.
He had to break the tibia and femur in Scott's left leg to do so, and fitted him with a frame which had to be adjusted daily to stretch the bones.
The left leg ended up shorter than the right, which would leave him with a permanent limp and intense pain, as well as chronic and severe headaches and backaches.
Scott says the left leg is 5.7 centimetres (nearly two-and-ahalf inches) shorter because a 'dead and septic' bone had to be removed after it caused an infection.
He will now have to wear the frame on his leg for about six months, until the left leg extends to the same length as the right, which will allow him to walk properly and realise his dream of getting back on his bicycle again.
Scott has not been able to practise any sport since the crash on May 7, 2017, in which his friends and fellow triathletes José Antonio Albi and Edu Monfort Gasent, both 28, and Luis Alberto Contreras, 53, were killed.
Team leader Jaime Escortell escaped by hurling himself over the crash barrier and was relatively uninjured, and Luis Alberto's son Andrés has also had to undergo extensive surgery and physio - and is not out of the woods or back on his bike yet.
The driver who caused the tragedy, 28-year-old waitress Mavi Sánchez, from Gandia, was five times over the drinkdriving limit and had taken cocaine.
She was remanded in custody for a year, but later released on bail.
"I hope everything evolves well and that this will be my last operation," said Scott.
"This is becoming a long and difficult battle. I only hope that this will be the final obstacle and that, at last, I'll be able to get my life back, go back to work, take part in the sports I love, get back on my bike, run, and compete in triathlons again."
"My latest recovery period is really hard. I'm still in loads of pain. Since I've been home from hospital, I haven't been able to leave my house."
The trial for the three cyclists' death and the injuries suffered by Scott and Andrés cannot go ahead until the full extent of the damage is known, meaning Scott and Andrés have to have recovered as far as they are feasibly able - and, they both hope, this will be in full - so that their time off work, care and treatment costs and psychological damages can be calculated.