The daughter of a Tayside man paralysed from the waist down in a freak motorcycle accident has spoken about how her family is rallying around her father.
Vintage motorbike fan Eweun Kettles, 63, broke his spine in five places last month when his beloved 1927 Royal Enfield bike malfunctioned, leading to him hitting a dry stane dyke at 50 mph.
His daughter Jenni Kettles said her father had been placed in an induced coma this week as specialists in Glasgow worked on his spine.
The 28-year-old said the initial signs were good.
She added: “He’ll be getting help to breathe unassisted soon and will be coming out of the induced coma he went into to give his body a chance to heal.
“My mum spoke to him before they put him in the coma. He was sending his love and saying I have been awfully silly, even though it’s no fault of his own.”
‘Shocked to a state of numbness’
Eweun was riding the motorbike and sidecar on his own when a mechanical failure led to the collision near Meigle on September 14.
As well as breaking his spine, he severely damaged a disk in his neck, broke ribs and an ankle, lost a thumb – which has been reattached – and suffered one collapsed lung while the other filled with blood.
“He was minutes from home and travelling at 50 miles per hour,” Jenni said.
“There was a fault with the bike which resulted in him losing control. He was consequently thrown out of the bike and over the wall on to hard concrete.
“We were terrified for his safety. We felt shocked beyond belief to a state of numbness. I work in Edinburgh so I started to make my way home. Some local people had taken care of him and given him blankets.
“My mother and I rushed to Ninewells and our minds were completely restless. We were really scared and fearing for the worst. We wonder if we were racing to join him for his last breath.
“He’s sustained these life-changing injuries but he’s in this fighting spirit. He’s alive and we’re holding on to that.”
Discovering her father no longer had “any sensation in the legs” was a massive shock.
She added: “We were heartbroken to imagine him in pain or suffering, heartbroken for the suffering physically and heartbroken for the hard journey that lies ahead in terms of entering this completely alien chapter.
“It’s something that’s happened that’s beyond our control so we can only focus on being grateful that his condition is stable and he is on a path to recovery.
“My mother and father, both of them, are wonderfully fun-loving people who fully engage with life and who bring joy and passion everywhere they go, so there’s no judgement on the vehicle.”
Road to recovery
Helping Eweun to continue his passion for machines will be an important part of his recovery, Jenni said.
Eweun was a committee member of the local Vintage Motorcycle Club for many years and his wife Sally was the treasurer before Jenni was born.
He received the bike as a gift in the 1970s, restoring it and building the sidecar from scratch himself.
“It’s a bike we associate with a lot of joy and family trips,” Jenni said.
“It can fit three people, so on a lot of trips it’s been my mother, my father and I.
“My dad is very passionate about engineering and vintage motorcycles. From my entire life growing up around him he would always been in his shed, working on motorbikes, creating, almost like a mad scientist in the mechanical space.”
The family are now raising funds to make the changes to their home Eweun will need when he gets out of hospital.
Jenni said they are determined he will “still live in a way that brings him pleasure, passion and opportunity to do what he loves.”
The changes will include a wheel-chair accessible workshop, a wet room, ramps and hoists and a vehicle that will enable him to travel. The family are raising money through a GoFundMe page.
She said family, friends and the local community are now all focused on the future.
“It’s very bitter and hard to digest, but we are determined to transform it into a great sense of hope and love and support,” she said.
“This has been reflected to us from the local community, friends and family. That has been the real aspect that has saved us, kept us going, and allowed us to be positive.”
