MORE than £7,000 has been raised in under 48 hours for a Benfleet man who has been left with a traumatic brain injury following a boxing accident. 

Lloyd Burton, 26, is head coach at Hadleigh Lawn Tennis Club and had recently taken up boxing training for additional fitness. 

At the start of the year, he had an opportunity to train for a charity event, which was set to be held in April.

However, at the end of March, Lloyd took a blow in training which knocked him out.

His family say after a CT scan, it showed Lloyd had sustained a major bleed on the brain and he was put into an induced coma. 

Bailey Burton, Lloyd’s younger brother, said: “Within a short amount of time Lloyd began to deteriorate and needed to be put into an induced coma.

“From this point on, it was a race against time to get Lloyd to the Royal London hospital and to get him into major surgery to release the pressure from his brain caused by the blood clots.

“Lloyd had to have a part of his skull removed to take away part of the clot and make room for the brain to swell and save his life.

“The surgeons told us ‘We think we have saved his life’, but they could offer no guarantee that Lloyd would make it passed the next 24 to 72 hours.”

Within one week of this accident, Lloyd underwent 3 major surgeries and had a fourth a few weeks later.

Lloyd is now to be moved to a specialist rehabilitation hospital for the next three months.

A fundraiser has since been set up by his brother Bailey to go towards further rehab after the three month period and support for the rest of Lloyd’s life.

Bailey added: “We are all just heartbroken. My parents haven’t missed a day of being by my brothers side since this tragedy happened, they have travelled to and from London every day since and haven’t been able to work during that period either.

“Lloyd is currently in a low awareness state but continues to fight and is making small improvements.

“It is likely that Lloyd will need to relearn to talk, walk, eat, and hopefully communicate with his family and friends again.

“We have been advised that Level 1 Private rehabilitation can cost in the region of £15,000 per week and other treatments that Lloyd may need in the future are also very costly.

“We are very grateful for any donations and want to thank everyone for their support so far.”

To donate, visit crowdfunder.co.uk/p/for-the-love-of-lloyd-supporting-his-recovery