A FORMER Oxford United footballer has given a heartfelt thank-you to the team of health workers who saved his crushed leg.

Father-of-three Steve Tavinor said it was unbelievable that more than 40 people working for the NHS had played a part in his care so far.

The 35-year-old, a former Peers School pupil, is now recovering at his home in Wood Farm, Oxford, with his wife Sally, 35, daughters Erin, two, and Kit, 10, and son Max, 13.

He said: “It’s brilliant. I can’t say enough about them. They’ve all done a fantastic job. So many people have been involved and I still have more operations and 14 months of rehabilitation to come. I owe them all a lot.”

Doctors thought they would be forced to amputate Mr Tavinor’s left leg after it was crushed between a car and his lorry in Steeple Aston as he unloaded scaffolding at the end of September.

But intricate surgery by trauma and plastic surgery specialists, followed by a month of hospital care, has meant he is able to move about on crutches.

The young father, who also captained Witney Town, said: “I’ll never play football again, but that’s a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things. I’m happy I’ve still got my leg – but I don’t think it’s all sunk in yet.”

After firefighters cut Mr Tavinor free following the accident, the first two health staff to help were a South Central Ambulance Trust crew, who stabilised their patient before handing him over to Chiltern and Thames Valley Air Ambulance paramedics.

They took him to the John Radcliffe Hospital emergency department, where one doctor and two nurses continued his care. He was transferred to the trauma unit, where another three nurses and doctors looked after him.

Then he was taken to theatre, so surgeons could pin his tibia bone during an eight-hour operation.

Three days later he had more surgery, to ensure everything was healing well, and a third operation, to put muscle back into his leg, the following day.

Each operation involved at least five theatre staff, including surgeons, nurses, anaesthetists and porters.

Mr Tavinor stayed on the John Radcliffe’s specialist surgery ward, under the care of at least 10 doctors and nurses.

Pharmacists prepared medicine for him, housekeepers and cleaners ensured the surrounding ward was clean and infection free.

A physiotherapist helped him use crutches and an occupational therapist made a tailor-made splint for his leg. Now a district nurse is visiting his home regularly to dress his wounds.

Mr Tavinor said: “Without them all I would have lost my leg. It’s not just a few doctors and nurses.”