Disabled father’s horrific accident on charity climb
A DISABLED father may be forced to have his leg amputated after it became trapped under his wheelchair and mangled while he attempted to scale the UK’S highest mountain.
Shaun Gash’s climbing feat came to an horrific end – just 300 metres from the top of Ben Nevis – after he badly broke his right leg in several places.
The paraplegic was completely unaware his leg had become trapped beneath his off-road wheelchair and had been smashing against the huge rocks.
Shaun’s wife Dawn, 46, and daughter Niamh, 13, who had joined him on the climb, watched the horror unfold as he was airlifted off the peak.
Now Shaun, 47, a family support worker, faces having his leg amputated because his injuries are so severe.
Shaun, from Lancaster, was trying to raise £3,000 for Help For Heroes, Calvert Trust Exmoor, Back-up Trust and George’s Legacy.
But the drama unfolded just metres before he reached the summit of Ben Nevis.
He said: “I was on a RGK off-road wheelchair. I had my legs on the footplates, but my right leg must have fallen off. “I didn’t notice, but about 300 metres from the top I had an almighty spasm. I noticed my leg was off the plate.
“It was like jelly. I knew it was broken. I don’t know how long it had been dragging along the ground.
The team raised the alarm and the coastguard winched Shaun off the mountain and to the Belford Hospital, in Fort William.
He is now recovering in Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.