A 24-year-old man is in intensive care in Turkey after breaking his neck diving into a swimming pool on the final night of a holiday. <\/p>\n
Will Ponter, who was raised in Holme but now lives in Carnforth, underwent an emergency 13-hour surgery following the accident on Thursday, September 3, and doctors have said he will be paralysed from the neck down. <\/p>\n
His partner Becky Francey, 27, and HIS family are by his side in Antalya but there is no timeline for when it will be safe for him to travel home. <\/p>\n
Becky told the BBC: \u201cWe need to get him home, he's going to need special care. It's going to be a long road to recovery.\u201d <\/p>\n
Will and Becky\u2019s families have launched a GoFundMe page to raise \u00a3150,000 to fund his stay in ICU alongside the cost to transport him home as he will need medical staff on board. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn a second everything just changed,\u201d said Becky. <\/p>\n
"I was stood on the side as he jumped in, but he didn't come back up for a while, and when he did he was just floating face down. <\/p>\n
"I knew he wasn't messing so I dived in, and I pulled him out and he instantly said 'I can't move.'" <\/p>\n
Will was then rushed to hospital because of the severity of his injuries before being transferred to another for surgery. <\/p>\n
Becky told the BBC that two German men took her to the hospital, where one of the men incredibly paid the cost of the 4,000-euro surgery. <\/p>\n
"The surgery went extremely well," Becky said. <\/p>\n
"They said that if he was any older they wouldn't have tried it, it was very risky surgery, but it went really well and he's breathing on his own now." <\/p>\n
She said they have spoken a little but they can\u2019t stay with him for more than 15 minutes at the moment. <\/p>\n
The family said they do not have the correct insurance to cover all costs and they expect further costs to adapt his home to make it accessible. <\/p>\n
Becky said: "We just take it hour by hour, it's the only way to survive, but the kindness that has come out of all this has been incredible. <\/p>\n
"The amount of support from home has really lifted us, it feels like a big hug from around the world." <\/p>\n
Becky\u2019s mum Rebecca posted on the fundraising page: \u201cThis accident was a split second of tragedy that has now reshaped the entire future of a young man who is only 24 years old.\u201d <\/p>\n
Rebecca, who lives in the US, described the accident as \u201clife-changing\u201d and \u201cheart breaking.\u201d <\/p>\n
She added: \u201cIf you have the good fortune to know Will and Becky then you know that as a couple, they are full of energy. They banter, and frolic and genuinely play and have fun together.\u201d <\/p>\n
The kindness of family, friends and strangers has meant that they have already raised over \u00a3110,000 at the time of writing. <\/p>\n
\u201cI wish for an abundance of love and well wishes of healing, and prayers, to circle the entire globe for him. He will need it,\u201d said Rebecca. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are all focusing on being positive, and praying for a recovery that may seem miraculous. But as the saying goes, \u2018Where there\u2019s a Will, there\u2019s a way.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n