Bedside vigil for fireball victim (From Ledbury Reporter)

Bedside vigil for fireball victim

8:42am Friday 11th January 2013 in News By Tarik Al Rasheed

THE family of a popular Ledbury man who is fighting for his life after being set alight by a garden bonfire say they have been overwhelmed by messages of support.

Lee Vine, the owner of Lee Motorcycles on the Homend Trading Estate, is still in intensive care at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham in a critical but stable condition.

Family, including his partner Lyn Wall, children Luke and Leanne, step-son Sam and brother Jason have been keeping a daily vigil over him and say it is support from friends, customers and the community at large that is helping them to cope.

“People have been brilliant, we’ve had so much support and so many good wishes from far and wide,” said Ms Wall. “It means a lot to us and just lets us know that we are not on our own.”

Mr Vine suffered 50 per cent burns to his body after he was hit by a fireball from a garden bonfire at his home in Falcon Lane on Sunday, December 30.

Ms Wall said his injuries were so severe that it had been touch-and-go whether he would survive.

“On Sunday we thought we were losing him but he is holding his own,” she said.

“He is fighting and we are taking every day as it comes.”

Mr Vine has had four operations to date and is expected to need several more and remain in intensive care for at least six weeks.

“We are preparing ourselves for that. As long as it takes to get him home,” Ms Wall said.

She was also quick to praise the efforts of the emergency services, staff at the hospital and her neighbours Andrea and Robin Vernall, who rushed to help at the time.

“The emergency services were here so fast and the hospital has been brilliant. I know he is getting the best possible care,” she said.

More than 60 messages of support have been left on the Facebook page of Lee Motorcycles, which Mr Vine runs with his brother.