Former Wales Student rugby league international Curtis Cunningham is in hospital in Mackay in Queensland following an horrific motorbike accident.
Cardiff-born Cunningham, 27, has lived in Australia for the past four years, where he has been playing rugby league for Mackay Souths Sharks.
According to Mackay’s local newspaper, the Daily Mercury, his motorbike collided with a car head on last Wednesday. The force of the impact was so strong, that the visor of his motorbike helmet became lodged in the front of the car and one of his work boots came off.
Debris from the crashed bike was scattered along the roadway. The police were still investigating what exactly caused the crash.
Cunningham’s injuries include a fractured skull, fractures in the middle of his spine, bruising on the front of his brain, fractures to his ribs on all sides, injuries to his face, injuries to the leg, a collapsed lung and he has lost teeth.
According to Cunningham’s partner Monique, he has had an MRI scan which has come back as clear, but if his spine needs to have surgery he will be transferred to either Townsville or Brisbane.
He is currently heavily sedated and in a deep sleep. He has had a CT scan on his stomach because his red blood cells were dropping out.
A family friend, Leah Lambert, has set up a GoFundMe page here https://www.gofundme.com/curtis-cunningham-recovery-fund to assist with his treatment and to help family members in Wales visit him. His brother Leon and sister Jamira flew out to Australia on Saturday.
On the page, Leah wrote: “He is a devoted dad to his daughter and is a loving and a caring person, he is a fighter loved by so many people and we all know he will pull through. All of his friends and family in the UK are praying and wishing him a speedy recover.
“We would all love to be able to travel to the other side of the world to visit him in hospital but we cannot. So many people have so much love for Curtis and the support here is amazing, it’s a shame Curtis is not yet responsive enough to know about this.
“We need to raise as much money as we can to ease the stress on Curtis, as due to his horrific injuries he will be out of work and will need help to support himself and his family.
“There is no limit to what we are hoping to raise so donate what you can when you can and let’s make his recovery a little easier for him and his family.”
In the UK, Cunningham played rugby league for Cardiff Demons, Celtic Crusaders Reserves, South Wales Scorpions, Gloucestershire All Golds, London Skolars and Wales Students, as well as rugby union for Bridgend Ravens, Beddau, Pontypool and Tonmawr.
He was in the stadium in Townsville in Australia in November last year, supporting Wales in the Rugby League World Cup against Fiji.
