Father's agony as cyclist son who refused to wear a helmet in case he messed up his hair is left in a coma after collision with van

Ryan Smith has been in a coma for FIVE WEEKS since the accident

Doctors have told his family he probably has permanent brain damage

He didn't want to wear a cycle helmet as he didn't want to ruin his quiff



A devastated father cradles his brain-damaged son, left in a coma after he refused to wear a cycle helmet and was then hit by a van.

This heartbreaking image reveals the terrible consequences of 16-year-old Ryan Smith’s decision not to wear a helmet because he was worried it would spoil his fashionable hairstyle.

Yesterday his family took the brave decision to allow the photograph to be published in the hope it will send a stark warning to other parents and teenagers.

A father's anguish: Mark Smith gently cradles 16-year-old Ryan in hospital where he lies in a coma

Heartbreaking: Mark Smith with his son Ryan who is in a coma after suffering serious head injuries after being involved in a crash on his bike while not wearing a cycle helmet because he didn't want to ruin his hair

Grammar school boy Ryan has been in a coma for almost five weeks after being struck by the van as he cycled to work at his holiday job last month.

Crash: Ryan didn't want to ruin his hair by putting on a helmet as he cycled to work and now his father is calling for all cyclist to wear them



His distraught father Mark, 44, has spent every day at his bedside in the desperate hope that his ‘beautiful’ son will wake.

The family face an agonising wait to find out if he will regain consciousness, and have been warned that he will probably be brain-damaged for life.

Mr Smith said: ‘I wouldn’t wish this on anybody. Any parent can imagine what this is like but I don’t want anybody ever to live this nightmare. We don’t know yet how much of our son we are going to get back, we will never know if a helmet would have saved him. But I don’t want another parent to take that chance.’

Mr Smith and his wife Julie, 46, are backing calls for cycling helmets to be made compulsory after their son was almost killed in the collision near the Lincolnshire village of Chapel St Leonards, where the family live, on July 22.



They were warned that the GCSE student might not survive the first 24 hours. He has been in a coma since the accident and was initially completely unresponsive, although his family have since noticed signs he could be responding to their voices.

Mr Smith – a paramedic who sees the terrible aftermath of road crashes in his work – said he told Ryan to wear a helmet when he cycled. But the youngster had worried it would spoil his hairstyle and took the fateful decision to cycle without one.

Mr Smith said: ‘I always wear a helmet, I always told Ryan to wear a helmet, but he is 16, his hair is his life and sadly he has the “not going to happen to me” attitude.

‘He’s like any young lad, they just think they are invincible. But in a click of your fingers our family’s life has changed permanently. I can make my four-year-old wear a helmet but it is harder to tell an image-conscious teenager what to do.

'I still kiss him like I always have': Mr Smith tenderly kisses his son on the forehead. The family are cautiously optimistic about his chances, but Mr Smith admits that, even if his boy recovers, 'it won't be the same Ryan'

Horrific: Mr Smith, a paramedic, had told Ryan to wear a helmet having seen the terrible consequences of cycle crashes in his work

‘This needs to go to Parliament straight away but people have no excuse not to go and buy a helmet. There is one in everyone’s price range and you should wear it even if you’re just riding to the shop.’

Sports-mad Ryan, a pupil at Skegness Grammar School, is due to receive his GCSE results today. Mr and Mrs Smith will read them to him in hospital.

The teenager, who met Paralympic runner Richard Whitehead when he represented his school as a ‘Paralympics Ambassador’ last year, had hoped to return to school for his A-levels and to study engineering at university.



Now his family fear he will face years of rehabilitation if he wakes from his coma, and have begun fundraising for his future.

Mr Smith said: ‘One minute we had a 16-year-old, fit and well and beautiful, awaiting his GCSEs eagerly, couldn’t wait to get back to school for his A-levels, with the world at his feet... and then it’s not going to be any more.

‘Ryan’s not going to be that young, fit, active guy for some time now. But we are hopeful, we have seen snippets of recovery in these five weeks, and Ryan’s tough and he’s fighting. We spent a week with nothing, then a twitch from his left arm and now he blinks to my voice.

Popular: Some of the cards of support which have been sent to Ryan on his hospital ward

Fears: Ryan's family worry he will require years of rehabilitation despite having woken from his coma

‘We are still waiting to see the extent of the damage – there is no way of telling what sort of son we will have back. But one thing is for sure – it won’t be the same Ryan.’

Ryan is being treated at the Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, Lincolnshire, and is on the waiting list to be moved to the specialist neurology ward at Lincoln County Hospital.

His parents have begun fundraising and have set up a Ryan Smith Foundation page on Facebook. Cycle helmets are not compulsory in Britain, although Olympic champion and Tour de France winner Sir Bradley Wiggins has backed calls for legislation to force cyclists to wear them on roads.

Research for the Department for Transport showed that between 10 and 16 per cent of cycling deaths could have been avoided if the cyclist had been wearing an appropriate helmet.

Ryan’s schoolfriend Hollie Simpson, 16, said the accident had shocked her into wearing a cycle helmet.



She said: ‘I see so many people who don’t and I think Ryan would want to change that.

‘Ryan is so much fun. We all joked about his quiff, he was always pushing his hair up and we think that’s the first thing he’ll do when he wakes up.’