Crowdfunder set up for recovering TT racing journalist

This year’s Isle of Man TT was sadly marred by five fatalities, while some other competitors suffered lifechanging injuries. After a crash during qualifying, Mike ‘Boothy’ Booth – who is a motorcycle journalist best known for his work with 44Teeth – suffered significant and life-changing injuries.

He badly broke both femurs, both tibs and fibs, and sustained numerous other fractures. The worst single injury was a severely shattered right leg, which the surgeons had to amputate just below the knee.

Speaking of his recovery, Boothy said: “I had ten trips to theatre in the first two weeks, which was really exhausting. Both femurs were broken in the crash, there is also some spinal damage higher up the back, which could prove problematic, but needs more investigation before they can say for sure.

“Unfortunately, the damage to the right lower leg was too bad, and despite the surgeons’ best efforts, they weren’t able to save it. Losing my leg has been one of the most difficult things to get my head round and, it’s hard to explain something like that to others, when you’ve not really come to terms with it yourself.

“But the more I think about it, the more I realise that actually, losing a leg doesn’t have to be that big of a deal, if you don’t want it to be. I’ve seen people run marathons, climb mountains, race bikes and do all sorts of stuff, with prosthetic limbs. Things will be different, but it’s not the end of the world… and crashing where I did, could (and probably should) have been a lot worse.”

In an attempt to give Boothy some much needed financial support while he mends and comes to terms with the new challenges he will face, his colleagues at 44Teeth launched a Crowdfunder page, which – at the time of writing – has already raised over £70k.