THE FAMILY of Aaron Clifford have released an update on his condition following the accident during the Snetterton round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championshp on July 21, revealing the full extent of his many injuries.
The 19-year-old was injured in an accident involving Adam Hartgrove and Charlie Morris along the Senna Straight during the warm-up lap for the SSTK 600 race. After being airlifted to hospital, he was placed in an induced coma according to the last medical update on 22 July.
A week on, his family have taken to his Facebook page to explain just how serious Aaron's injuries are with a series of broken bones in his back, face, leg and arms, as well as the serious head injury that continues to leave him in a critical condition.
Full statement from Aaron Clifford's family
As you all know by now Aaron was involved in an accident during the warm up lap of the British stock 600 race last Sunday 21st of July. He was attended track side by the BSB medical team; they put Aaron into an induced coma and he was then airlifted to Addensbrooke hospital.
He has a number of serious injuries:
He has a serious head injury
Both of his cheek bones are broken
His left lung is collapsed
His sternum is broken
He has multiple broken ribs
His left wrist in broken
His right arm and wrist is broken
His left femur is broken
His C7 vertebrate is broken- this is located in the neck.
He also has a dislocated pelvis.
After the first 36 hours they set both arms temporarily to help alleviate pressure on his body to heal as his head injury was a major concern at this point. They have then done a temporary procedure on his femur. This was shattered and required pins and two steel bars on the outside of the leg to hold it together. Again this is temporary and just to alleviate the pressure on the body.
When he is in a better position he will have to have a surgery on both arms where they will use plates and screws to fix his breaks. He will also have surgery on his leg. This will require a steel rod through the bone to hold the femur together.
On Wednesday night he was brought to theatre for emergency surgery as he took a bad turn. He was then moved to Royal Papworth hospital to put him on ECMO. This is a machine which bypasses his lungs. It takes the blood from his body, oxygenates the blood and removes the carbon dioxide. This was done as he didn’t have enough oxygen in his blood and too much carbon dioxide. The surgery and first 24 hours were extremely dangerous and we are very glad to be through them.
He currently has a good level of oxygen and carbon dioxide in his blood. The pressure in his brain is at an acceptable level. That been said he is still Critically ill, in an induced coma and completely medically paralyzed in the Critical Care Unit.
This is going to be an extremely long and difficult road for Aaron. We will update you as he makes progress. We would like to thank everyone for all their kind messages and prayers. Also a very special thank you to the BSB medical team and the Air ambulance. We are absolutely overwhelmed by your support but it’s not possible to reply to every message. Thanks Kenneth, Michelle and family.
Aaron's family have set up a GoFundMe fundraising page to raise money towards his recovery - you can view the page HERE
