HOW ‘STUPID’ CRASH SAVED MY LIFE
Ex-footballer had leg amputated when deadly illness was discovered after crashing car while over limit
A former professional footballer has told how his decision to drink-drive saved his life after a deadly illness was discovered by doctors following his resulting car crash.
Will Ferry had his lower left leg amputated within 24 hours of smashing into railings in Leech mere Road, Sunderland,after tests confirmed that swelling on his foot was sepsis.
Now a wheelchair user while he waits for a false leg to be fitted, he spent 18 weeks recovering in hospital and is urging people with similar symptoms to seek medical advice to avoid a similar fate.
Ferry, 53, of Toward Road, Hendon, Sunderland, said: “I should not have got in the car. It was a stupid thing to do and I only drove to get some milk for my cornflakes because I was struggling to walk.
"But the doctors told me if I had not been brought in when I was then I would not be alive today. My life changed almost overnight.
"The pain is horrendous and if there is any good from all this then I hope it prevents other people, like lads who get cuts on building sites, from going through what I have gone through.”
Ferry, who played for Scunthorpe United and Barnsley in the1980s, said he began suffering pain after cutting his foot while out walking and believes infection must have set in.
He added: “I had not been well for a couple of weeks before and had blacked out at friend’s house.”
Magistrates heard he had also blacked out at the wheel just prior to the accident at 2.18pm on January 1.
Ferry was banned from driving for 22 months by South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court after admitting drink-driving, driving without insurance and without a licence.
A roadside breath test showed he was more than twice the legal limit after celebrating New Year’s Eve.
The former England school boy striker said his plans to rebuild his life now include writing a book.
The former Thornhill School pupil added: “I have had a lot of help from the Professional Footballers’FA) and a lot of help from a good circle of friends.
"Mike Har ford, the football er from Sunderland, is a friend and he told me to get in touch with the P FA. But I am positive I will walk again–the prosthetic leg has been delayed because of the coronavirus–and there are people in a lot worse positions than me, particularly with all this COVID.”