A mother told of her anguish after her son suffered devastating injuries in a terrifying 12,000 foot skydiving accident.

Ellie Harrison’s son Ben Cornick, 31, plunged onto a parked van afterhe lost control of his steering toggle during a routine skydive in Fiji.

Friends and family have already raised £20,000 for a medical evacuation from Fiji to New Zealand.

However, more money is needed to pay huge medical bills and to fly him back to UK in time for his baby son’s first birthday.

Mr Cornick suffered a shattered hip, elbow, arm, thigh bone and a broken leg and was medically evacuated to New Zealand to save his leg from amputation.

Mr Cornick's family are well known in the Lyme Regis community and Ms Harrison now lives in Bridport.

She said: “I received a call from his father on the day to tell me that it had happened and I was devastated.

“The first thing I thought was that he had died. It’s a mother’s worst nightmare. Ben has been skydiving for ten years all over the world and is an instructor so knows what he is doing.

“It’s the call I have been dreading, it really has been a nightmare.

“He now can’t walk and won’t be able to put any weight on his legs or arms for another three months which is driving him mad, because he is a very active person.

“He faces a long road to recovery but we know he has been very lucky.

“There are not many skydivers who survive accidents like this so we have been lucky. I thank God every day that he is still alive.”

Mr Cornick now faces a battle to learn to walk again following the accident and the family are now relaunching the fundraising drive to help pay the medical bills. Even though Mr Cornick does have insurance for his job as a sky diving instructor, the jump which the accident happened in was a personal jump, which unknown by Mr Cornick, meant he wasn’t covered. He will have to pay the bills himself.

Writing on his Facebook page after the operation, Mr Cornick said: “I've been up and down the last few days but just wanted to give another huge thanks to everyone involved in sharing, caring and donating. I'm still in total awe of what you guys have achieved for me and I owe every single one of you.”

To donate to the appeal, email ricky jdavies@hotmail.com