A BREWERY worker who sustained ‘life changing injuries’ in an explosion at his workplace has spoken out following the incident, thanking his children for their efforts to raise funds towards his recovery with the creation of an online campaign.

Leigh Taylor, 43, who lives in Seaton, has survived against the odds given by doctors in critical care when he was first admitted to hospital, sustaining life changing injuries with 37 per cent burns to his hands, legs and face.

On Monday, May 13, police were contacted by the ambulance service (NWAS) who had received a report of 'an explosion at a brewing facility' at the Tractor Shed Brewery, off Calva Brow in Workington.

Speaking about his injuries, Leigh said: “I was airlifted to hospital and my family - days later I think - they managed to get here. The doctors had given me a 40 per cent chance of living. I was in a really bad condition for quite some time. I was unconscious for about three weeks.

“I had a cardiac arrest and that lost me for eight minutes, but for whatever reason I gained strength, started stronger and regained consciousness.”

Leigh was in the intensive care unit (ICU) for several weeks, until he was deemed fit enough to move onto a ward. Since then, he said his recovery has ‘become fast tracked’ and he is now able to walk around the ward on his own, and complete simple tasks like buttering bread that will help him in his everyday life when discharged.

“I try to focus on positives," he said. "Obviously, I have had moments where I thought I would never be the same again and obviously I never will be the same again - I have got life changing injuries, I have got massive burns to my legs, and I am going to have huge scarring for the rest of my life.

“But it is not going to stop me doing things in the future. I want to build up to be able to start fell running again. I had started fell running just before all this happened so my goal is to get back to that level.

“It’ll take a long time, but I will do it... I will be running on the fells again soon.”

Leigh’s children Savannah, 19, and Byron-Leigh, 17, have set up a fundraising page to help their father in his recovery, with many trips to Newcastle Hospital in the future for appointments and other costs along the way.

Leigh said: “I have never seen anything like it. The nurses have never seen so many get well cards sent to hospital. I mean, I got 40 through the post and most of them from people I have never met from in and around Seaton. The messages of support on Facebook have been incredible. It’s been incredible.

“One of my concerns is how to support myself financially... my kids came up and visited they said can we set up a GoFundMe page.

“Again (donations) from people I don’t know [plus] a lot I do know from home. I am really grateful to the kids that they have done that because that will help me get to and from hospital for my appointments... I am going to have a lot of appointments.”

An investigation has been opened into the incident by the Health and Safety Executive.

A HSE spokesperson said: "We were made aware of an incident at The Tractor Shed Brewery in Workington on May 13 and are now investigating."

To donate to the GoFundMe page you can click here.