'Lads holiday joke ended up ruining my life - I broke my neck and my back'
Martin Bullen, 31, described how someone who he didn't know playfully pushed him into the water at a Benidorm pool party on June 10 leaving him hospitalised with life-changing injuries
A 'joke' on a lad's holiday in Benidorm ended up with a dad breaking his neck after he was shoved into a pool.
Martin Bullen, 31, described how someone who he didn't know playfully pushed him into the water at a Benidorm pool party on June 10.
The single dad-of-two said he tried to turn his fall into a dive but he didn't realise how shallow the water was and he split his head open on the bottom of the pool.
Luckily one of the revellers at the party was an army medic who helped get Martin out of the pool and kept him still until an ambulance arrived.
Paramedics took Martin, who works as a sales advisor, to a nearby hospital where doctors gave him 16 stitches in his head and found that he had fractured his neck in three places and broken his back.
He said that the trip to Benidorm had been intended as a relaxing getaway with his cousins to give Martin a break from being a busy single dad.
He said he had gone to book travel insurance before the holiday but he had gotten distracted before paying and forgot to purchase it - a mistake he dubbed 'stupid'.
Martin ended up forking out £1,500 for the hospital stay and extra flights - he is urging holidaymakers travelling this summer not to make the same "daft mistake" as him.
Martin, from Wigan, Greater Manchester, said: "I was having a drink but I had my wits about me and stuff. Somebody pushed me into the pool and I didn't know it was a shallow pool.
"I'm thinking I'll just dive in and dive back up and my head hit the floor straight away and it split open my head.
"It was quite scary. I'll be honest, there was at one point I thought I was going to die on my own [in hospital] because I didn't know what was going on or who to talk to.
"It was a moment of madness [not to take out insurance]. I was looking at getting it, I put it in the WhatsApp group for my cousins to get it and as I went to do mine something came up with the kids.
"Then it just slipped my mind and then I forgot all about it and didn't get it done. It was a daft mistake. I knew I needed to get it. Failure to prepare is preparing to fail, that's the best thing I could say."
Fortunately Martin was able to fly home on 16 June and said doctors at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary in Wigan have found five fractures in his neck and back.
He still needs to wear a neck brace and can only walk or stand for about five minutes before he needs to sit down, he said. Martin still needs to have further scans to find out the extent of the damage and what his recovery will be like.
His father, Scott Bullen, 63, flew out to be with him in hospital and was able to help with hospital costs but Martin is now raising money to be able to pay his dad back.
Martin said: "I can see how it could be portrayed dead easily as a boozy Brit in Benidorm who has done this but to be honest with you I wasn't drunk. It was a freak accident because I didn't know the pool was shallow. I'm a full-time dad and I try and work my hardest and try and bring them up the best I can do.
"I'm not one of those idiots, I have a lot of responsibilities and I take pride in them." He continued: "I'm either a dad or I'm at work. I'm never Martin and that's what this time away was for me.
"When I was in the hospital on my own I just needed my dad. Then when my dad came it was all about, I needed to land back home. When the plane landed he [Martin's dad] was looking at me and I burst out in tears.
"I've got two boys full time on my own, luckily my dad helped me with upfront costs, which I've got to pay back because he's retired. I know it's going to be a long road to recovery but I've got through the hard part, which was getting home and being around people who can support me."
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