‘I'm just happy to be alive' – Tai Woffinden wells up and admits he may need further operations after terrifying crash

The Sun

a day ago

TAI WOFFINDEN struggled to hold back tears as he opened up on his recovery following his terrifying crash.
The five-time Speedway world champion was involved in a horror high-speed crash in Krosno, Poland, in late March which left him with 15 BROKEN BONES.
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Having been airlifted to hospital, the British speedster spent days in a medically induced coma after having three lengthy major operations.
Woffinden, Britain's greatest-ever rider, had a double compound right femur fracture, broken back, right humerus compound fracture, dislocated and smashed right elbow, 12 broken ribs, punctured lung, left broken shoulder blade and dislocated left shoulder.
He bravely fought back from his life-threatening injuries and is now walking as he continues his gruelling recovery plan.
But three months on, the 34-year-old was seen in attendance at this weekend's British Speedway Grand Prix at Belle Vue in Manchester.
Woffy spoke to the Speedway Grand Prix account and lifted the lid on his journey back before admitting he may need to have further surgery as a result of his injuries.
Asked how he was feeling, he said: "Like a broken 80-year-old man.
"But look, the last seven weeks have been really tough - a lot of rehab, four-five hours a day Monday to Friday, you get the weekends off - now I'm back in the gym with Kirk in the UK.
"Was at the gym this morning and yesterday and we're planning on staying here in England for a little bit longer and then focus on the gym work now rather than the rehab.
"I got another scan at the end of the month which will determine if I need a second operation on my arm - my right humerus.
"Fingers crossed I don't, but if I do, I do and yeah we'll just deal with it."
Tai Woffenden posts heroic video of him leaving hospital less than 3 weeks after being in coma
Speaking about his recovery, he looked emotional as he recounted his ordeal.
He continued: "It's a mindset, you know. At a young age I got my black belt in martial arts in Australia, the second youngest.
"And I transferred over to Speedway and then won my world championships.
"Everything I do I put 110 per cent into and rehab and recovering from broken bones I have the same mindset and we just get after it."
Woffinden was then asked about his potential return to Speedway, to which he replied: "Is it too soon? Yeah.
"It was a tough one you know, I woke up from the coma and was like I'm done, I don't want to deal with this again.
"And some days go by and I'm like, yeah I fancy having a ride, maybe not racing but maybe ride my bike again.
"It's way too soon. I don't know what my future has to hold and I'm just happy to be alive."
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Speaking to SunSport earlier this month, Woffinden spoke about how he remembered everything from the crash including hearing people crying over his injuries.
He said: "I remember everything. In the race that I crashed I made a pretty decent start, so I blipped the throttle a little bit coming into the corner.
'The junior rider off gate one drove over the kerb, ran into the guy that was off gate two, who then collected me.
'As I got collected, as you normally do, you drop it on the side and slide towards the fence. And then while sliding across the track, my bike hit the APD (airfence) first, which lifted it up probably about a metre.
'And the moment I saw that lift, I just went, 'oh f***'. And then I hit the fence, I heard my femur snap. It's almost like if you're underwater and you snap a tree branch.
'I then was laid on the track. I remember looking up and seeing everybody around me. The team manager's face looked like he had seen a ghost.
'One person was crying looking at my body. My arms were pointing all in the wrong direction. My left shoulder was dislocated, pointing upwards.
'My right humerus was shattered at the bottom. My elbow was dislocated and my elbow was broken. I actually couldn't see my hands when I was laying on the track because they were both pointing up.
'So I'm sat there saying, 'give me some meds'. I was saying 'bol, bol, bol' which means pain in Polish just to make sure they knew what I was talking about.
'I don't know if I passed out from the amount of Fentanyl they'd given me or the amount of blood that I'd lost.'