An investment banker on a dream trip to South America was forced to have his “dead” leg amputated after a horrific motorcycle accident.
Luke Tarrant left his job in investment banking last September to embark on the trip of a lifetime, travelling from the United States to Antarctica.
The 28-year-old said he knew riding a motorcycle could be dangerous and felt “something was bound to happen eventually.”
He said: “I’ve always been passionate about motorcycles and this was the dream trip I’d been planning for a while. I quit my job for it and was having a blast.”
He was eight months into his adventure when he suffered a life-changing accident while traveling in Colombia on May 30.
Luke Tarrant did not remember the motorcycle accident he suffered, but it left him with serious injuries
In addition to losing his leg, Luke also broke his tibia, collarbone and right hand.
Luke had embarked on the trip of a lifetime, traveling by motorcycle from the US to Antarctica.
Luke, from Bedford, has no memory of the accident and is still trying to piece together the sequence of events.
After waking up in a ditch on the side of the road, he was picked up by a stranger and rushed to hospital for urgent treatment.
There, doctors informed him that he had broken his tibia, collarbone and right hand, and that his left leg was “dead” and needed to be amputated.
Luke said: ‘I was in Colombia and was returning to Ecuador when the accident happened.
“I don’t remember anything. I remember waking up in a ditch and I have a brief memory of someone holding me. It’s like trying to remember a nightmare – just little bits of memory.
‘My bike was totaled, obviously. It could have been a slippery surface, but police said they didn’t see any signs of another vehicle being involved. They don’t know exactly what happened.
‘At the hospital I was told almost immediately that I had to lose my leg. I was told there was no way to save it and that I was already dead.
Luke rode his bike for nine months before his accident.
He admits that he knew that riding a motorcycle is dangerous and believed that “something was going to happen sooner or later”
Luke left his job in investment banking to pursue his dream trip.
“When they told me, I was in survival mode. I felt pretty rational about it. After I recovered from surgery, I felt fine. I accepted it almost immediately, it was very strange.”
After surgery, Luke’s health deteriorated when he developed sepsis, blood clots and fluid in his lungs, forcing him to be put on a ventilator.
He was moved to critical intensive care because he developed sepsis following his amputation. He was then placed on a ventilator after his lungs began filling with fluid and blood clots.
Luke said: “At that point, I realised that this was the danger zone. The sepsis was much worse than the amputation; it nearly killed me.
“I think I was in intensive and critical care for about a week, and then when sepsis was no longer a concern, they focused on trying to heal the amputated leg.”
Luke underwent eight surgeries on his left leg over a two-week period. During this time, Luke’s family began documenting his recovery on Instagram to inform his loved ones about his condition and gained over 100,000 followers.
Luke is now learning to live with one leg and hopes his story will inspire others.
Luke has launched a fundraiser to help pay for private physiotherapy.
Fortunately, he recovered and was able to fly back to the UK after spending a month in the Colombian hospital. He has remained in an amputee centre to adjust to life with one leg.
He said: ‘Deep down, I always knew that when you do a high-risk activity like riding a motorcycle, sooner or later something was going to happen.
“I’ve accepted it from the beginning. My leg isn’t going to grow back, so I better get to work.”
Since the accident, Luke has been determined to use his story as a force for good, documenting his amputation experience on social media to help others.
He said: ‘I started out just updating my friends. And when I started using my phone again, I kept updating people and it slowly started to turn into something different.
“People have been messaging me saying they’ve seen my story and that it’s motivated them. I’m starting to see it in a slightly different way than I did before. I hope it can be used as a force for good.”
A fundraising campaign has since been launched to help pay for Luke’s private physiotherapy, as well as any prosthetics he may need, which has already amassed £55,000 in donations.
Luke said: “I’m incredibly grateful for all the support. I’ve received messages from people from all walks of life. This has taught me that no matter what happens to me in life, I know I can handle it. The generosity of other people has made me want to give back.”