A tradie father-of-two who recently became an amputee has opened up about the horror fall that changed his life forever in the hope that no one else will make the same mistake.
Queensland electrician Brandon Ford, then 30, was on the roof of his rented home fixing a leak in September 2023 when his wife Eleni asked him to come down.
She said she didn’t want to spend the next day in the emergency room with him, so Mr Ford did as he was told.
He fell from the roof, resulting in 28 fractures, intense pain, repeated surgeries over 18 months and having to have his leg amputated last month.
It has left the young family more than $150,000 out of pocket.
Mr Ford now wants to warn Aussies that some jobs are best left to the professionals.
‘Think twice, take a second, have a look. It’s just not worth it sometimes,’ he told Yahoo News. ‘It’s just not worth it sometimes.
‘Everyone just wants to get it done, and sometimes you just have to slow down and have a look because everyone thinks it’ll never happen to them, but it happened to me.’
Brandon Ford (pictured before the accident) had 20 operations on his shattered right leg
Mr Ford (pictured in hospital with his kids) fell from the roof of his rented home in 2023, resulting in 28 fractures, multiple surgeries and having to have his leg amputated in March
Being an electrician who ran his own business, Mr Ford took safety very seriously, but isn’t sure why he didn’t do so for himself on that fateful day in 2023.
It was the weekend and he’d had a busy week at work.
‘When you’re tired that’s when accidents happen. I regret not putting a harness on,’ he said.
He had 38 screws and four plates put into the injured leg, and during one of his 20 surgeries he got an infection.
Mr Ford said he ‘wouldn’t have been able to deal with it’ if he had woken up without his leg after the accident.
Eighteen months on, he is now at peace with losing his leg and feels like he can move on with his life.
Mr Ford’s parents Michael and Lara have set up a GoFundMe to pay with mounting medical expenses and help their son adapt to his new life as an amputee.
‘Brandon has made incredible strides in his recovery … His determination to regain his independence has been nothing short of heroic, as he tackles one milestone after another,’ the page states.
Mr Ford had 38 screws and four plates put into the injured leg, and during one of his many surgeries he got an infection
After 18 months of treatment and operations, Mr Ford is now at peace with losing his leg
‘Brandon’s recovery from the amputation will be extensive, necessitating the use of a wheelchair, various prosthesis, and other walking aids, many of which are not fully covered by private health insurance or government subsidies.’
The next stage of Mr Ford’s journey is to get fitted for a prosthetic leg.
‘Given his youth, active lifestyle, and strong desire to regain his mobility, he’ll need a variety of prosthetics, some of which will be highly advanced,’ his parents said.
‘It will take time for him to heal fully and get started with basic prosthetics, but his commitment and resilience promise a bright path ahead.
‘We remain confident that, with time, Brandon will achieve improved mobility, allowing him to lead an active and fulfilling life.
‘Brandon is desperate to get back to work, back to being an active father to his children as well as all the activities he enjoyed so much before the accident – water-skiing, wakeboarding, surfing, jet skiing etc.’
Brandon Ford (pictured with wife Eleni) hopes to restart his electrician business one day
His parents wrote that ‘Brandon has made incredible strides in his recovery’. Mr Ford is pictured during his recovery in hospital
More than $50,000 has been raised so far.
Mr Ford hopes that in time he can restart his electrician’s business but admitted he’s currently financially struggling.
Despite the harrowing ordeal, he has found some positives.
‘The last 10 months have been great in the sense that I am home, with the kids and my wife. It’s almost like it needed to happen to slow us down,’ Mr Ford said.
