Less than two months ago he won the the Groucho GP in Richill but now first-year junior Conor McCann is in a UK hospital with broken vertebrae after his team car crashed on the way to a race in the UK (Photo: Jerry Rafferty)
By Brian Canty
Promising young Irish rider Conor McCann is recovering in a hospital in Dover in the UK after the car he was travelling to a race in was involved in a bad collision on Friday.
McCann, a member of the NRPT-Magnet.ie junior team, was a back seat passenger in the car being driven by team principal Philip Finnegan when it slid off the road around 6.30am on Friday morning after an apparent tyre blow out.
The first year junior suffered a fractured vertebrae while Finnegan broke his sternum. The latter's young son was also in the car but he escaped unharmed.
Advertisement
The other passenger, Aaron Swan, was relatively uninjured but did suffer some facial injuries, including a possible broken nose.
At present, Conor McCann is still in hospital and won't be out before Wednesday as he's awaiting a specially designed body brace to arrive to stabilise his position.
He has not left the hospital since he was transported there following the incident four days ago.
His dad Chris is currently with him, while the others have since returned home.
"It's unreal," said McCann senior. "It's hard to believe we're in a hospital in Dover where the accident happened.
"Conor can't move anywhere because of his injuries. He's just lying flat on a bed, not allowed to move or get up. He hasn't moved since the accident.
"He's been in a body brace to support his whole spine."
Related News
Despite his situation, McCann, who was training hard for the upcoming Junior Tour of Ireland is in good spirits and doctors at the hospital are confident he will make a full recovery.
"Up until this morning they thought they'd have to operate but they're ruling that out now which is great," said his dad.
"The brace will let him heal and recover because he's got a fairly substantial break in the vertebrae.
"It's the L1 (lumbar) in his back, its a break and its unstable so it means his spinal column must be totally immobilised.
"He's literally lying beside me since Friday unable to move and totally fed up."
But if all goes to plan and the body brace arrives on Wednesday the McCanns could be home by the weekend.
"It's especially designed and its due tomorrow," said Chris, a well known rider himself who is still winning races on the Irish scene and is the owner of bike fitting business Inspired Cycling.
"They fit it on Conor and take an X-ray of his back to make sure there's no harm done to the vertebrae.
"And if all that comes clear I think they'll let us go home. But we don't how we'll get home yet because his travel options are limited. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."
Topics
