Dad paralysed after falling off bucking bronco on Portugal holiday

Ride4Bruce
Ride4Bruce



A British holidaymaker was left paralysed after being thrown from a mechanical bull ride on a lads' holiday in Portugal.

Bruce Ford, 49, from County Durham, was celebrating his birthday when he fell from the bucking bronco after just two seconds and landed on his neck.

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The father of one had to be resuscitated after the incident last year and spent months undergoing rehabilitation in hospital.

Ford is finally looking forward to being released.

Speaking to the Sunderland Echo, he said: "I was helped onto the bull by the bouncers and they then turned it on and I was promptly thrown off it. I landed on my neck and was knocked out.

"The bouncers picked me up and sat me at a table, I fell from the table and 'face-planted' - at this point my friends realised that this was serious and got involved."

Bruce, who has a 14-year-old son, had to fight for his life after X-rays showed he had broken his neck.

His fiancée Louise flew to Portugal before he was flown back to the UK.

He has been staying at the rehabilitation ward at Glasgow Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and hopes to be discharged in a matter of weeks while preparing for a life in a wheelchair.

His friends are raising money to help Bruce and have organised a 160-mile cycle from Airdrie to Sunderland in April.

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