Community Shows Support For Dirt Bike Crash Survivor

Wednesday, 10 July 2019 08:25

A local plumber who has been off work since May, following a terrible dirt bike accident is blown away by the community support.

WOODSTOCK - The Friendly City came out to support a local plumber, down at his luck at a charity BBQ and Silent Auction yesterday.

The event was hosted by Desco Plumbing and Heating Supply for Jeff Went. Went is a one man company with Wentley Plumbing and hasn't been able to work after a terrible dirt bike accident in May. He was in critical condition for a couple of days following his accident.

"I went out for a little rip on the old dirt bike, by myself which wasn't a good idea. I got caught in a rut, and kind of laid down in a bunch of sticks, banged my head and was in a lot of pain. I managed to get myself home, got a friend to get the bike out of the woods and we drove to the Woodstock Hospital, the crash was in Putnam. I don't remember much, but apparently they knocked me out and took me to London and hooked me up for a 3 hour surgery with a broken neck, bleeding on the brain and their was a stick that was stuck in my jugular vain. I had the surgery Friday night at the Victoria Hospital in London, which is just an amazing place."

Went says he is absolutely blown away from the support of the community since his accident.

"It blows my mind, the City of Woodstock, I mean I wouldn't be able to survive without the outpouring of support before this and this is just blowing my mind today, it is very humbling."

Branch Manager at the Woodstock Branch of Woodstock Albert Mann says they had over 100 people show up for the BBQ.

"Everybody has been very generous, the jars are filling up, tremendous vendor support, I put out an email a few weeks ago and the vendors that deal with us at Desco have stepped right up, they are here supporting us, the food has been donated, the pop was donated, all the silent auction items were donated so everything we do here today is to raise money for Jeff Went."

Mann says Went is really popular.

"We are so happy that Jeff was able to be here, as he says, he is known as the stick guy at Victoria hospital, he's here and everyone is out to support him because again, he is well liked by all of his peers, so he's a fantastic guy and I'm happy we were able to do this for him."

The silent auction is happening all month long and you can stop by anytime to offer your support and maybe bit on an item.