News

The price you have to pay

Tweet

Neil Morris, owner of the Manchester Phoenix, was recovering at home on  Saturday after a three-hour Friday afternoon operation yesterday.

Near the end of a very successful motorcycle career, Neil had what is  known in motorcycling as a 'big off.' He spent just over three weeks in  hospital having incurred six broken bones in a crash that saw him dragged  for approx two hundred yards under another machine. Needless to say, his  protective guards and pads disintegrated and he had little option than to  basically eat his face guard. He also suffered a broken jaw just below  his nose and although he has had extensive dentistry over the years  since, the bone has never healed fully or correctly.

His specialist worried about the consequences of another blow in the face  decided the only option was for Neil to have a bone graft. Yesterday, the  medical team removed a piece of his jaw from the back of his mouth and  grafted it on to the bone just below his mouth. He spoke (well, it was  more of a mumble actually) briefly to a Phoenix spokesperson to advise,  "it is very painful." He still has eleven stitches in his mouth along  with a steel plate and it's likely to be a further six to eight months of  treatment before his ordeal will be over.

GM Andy Costigan has suggested to Neil that he stay at home this Sunday  to aid his recovery, but those who know him don't think he will heed the  good advice. When asked did he believe that professional sports people  realised the price they would pay for competing at the highest level later in life, Neil (again mumbling like he'd had a few too many  sherbets) added, "hell no... would you go through this for a few poxy cups and trophies?"

Yeah, course we would. That's what we do!!

Neil would like to thank all the team at Carisbrook dental clinic for all  their help, as well as to Doug Clark at Dynamic Chiropractic for helping  him with an old, and long-standing back injury. Another Phoenix  spokesperson advised, "we're told that they have the technology to re-build him, so we could be stuck with him for some time yet. "

Needless to say, everyone on the team and the web/office staff wish him a  speedy recovery.