A 24-year-old man from Bournemouth was left stranded in Magaluf, Spain, after sustaining a brain injury from a fall caused by his Lightning McQueen Croc-style shoes. Callum Richens was on a lads' holiday when his footwear caught on a marble floor, sending him tumbling down a flight of stairs.
Callum, a logistics worker, recalled: 'I don't remember the fall at all. I just remember waking up to everyone panicking around me. Me and the group were all having drinks when my Lightning McQueen Crocs caught the marble floor in the villa and sent me flying down the stairs.'
The incident occurred on May 4, and after an excruciating two-hour wait for an ambulance, Callum was rushed to hospital. Scans revealed a fractured eye socket, bruising on the brain, and possible damage to his neck. He required six stitches and was placed on an IV drip, unable to eat or drink before the scans.
Callum remained in hospital until May 5, but doctors advised against flying home as planned. Instead, he booked a hotel for a week to recover alone, while his friends returned to the UK. By May 9, he felt well enough to travel and booked an 11am flight. However, disaster struck again when he woke up in the early hours with food poisoning.
'I woke up in the middle of the night with food poisoning from the hotel and was being sick every hour from 2am until 6am,' he said. Despite this, he managed to drag himself through the airport and fly home. Upon arrival, his friend Josh picked him up from Bristol Airport and took him straight to hospital for a check-up and scan.
Fortunately, the bruising on his brain had healed, and there were no longer concerns about his neck injury. His stitches have since been removed, and he is returning to work today.
