TROWBRIDGE man Haydn Briggs is fighting to save his sight in one eye, after being struck so hard in the eye with a golf club that surgeons described his injuries as the “worst they have ever seen”.

The 43-year-old, who is part of Wiltshire Host Families, was playing crazy golf in Trowbridge Town Park with some host Chinese students in July when one of them caught him in the eye with a club.

His injuries were so severe that he was airlifted by Wiltshire Air Ambulance to the Bristol Royal Infirmary, before being transferred to the Bristol Eye Hospital for a four-hour emergency operation.

Mr Briggs, who works as a self-employed fencing contractor, has now been told that he will need to apply for funding from the Primary Care Trust for iris and lens transplants and said he expects to be out of work for the foreseeable future.

“Basically, all I can see out of my eye is the outline of things and I need a prosthetic iris and lens transplants as mine are no longer there – they are still on the end of a golf club somewhere,” said Mr Briggs.

“Any quality of life I had before the incident is now non-existent. I can’t work, cycle along the canal, drive, garden or do photography and I’m now just waiting to see whether I can get the funding.

“I was looking after a group of students when one of them started acting up and swinging the club around like a baseball bat. I showed him how to hold it properly, but before I had the chance to move away he swung it and caught me in the eye.”

Mr Brigg’s partner Pauline Connor, who was with him at the time of the incident, said: “He started screaming and before I knew it he was on the floor in agony, shouting that he couldn’t see.”

After the initial emergency operation, Mr Briggs had another operation to stop the eye haemorrhaging, but he said surgeons have told him there is still a chance he will lose his sight completely in the damaged eye.

“I could tell there was something seriously wrong straight away,” added Mr Briggs. “There is a real danger that I could still lose the eye if they can’t control the pressure as the damage was so bad.

“When I got to the eye hospital the surgeons said it was the worse injury they have ever seen to an eye, which was scary. All of the paramedics from the Wiltshire Air Ambulance and the staff at the hospital have been fantastic.”

A fundraising page was set up for Mr Briggs by close friends of the couple, Val Hopper and Sarah and Pete Heard, to provide financial support to them, raising more than £600 so far.

They will also be holding a fundraising evening with medium Joanie Goddard at Longfield Community Centre in Trowbridge next Saturday (Aug 22) from 7pm-10pm, with tickets £10 per person or £12 on the door.

Mr Briggs added: “It’s overwhelming to get this incredible support. I’m the sort of person who will help anyone, but you don’t realise who is willing to help you until something like this happens.”

Tickets for the fundraising event are available from Val Hopper on 07525 717031 or 01225 405783. Alternatively, contact Sarah Heard on 07783 736838 or 01225 751442.

To donate, visit https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/Haydn