Mr Chris Cummings

Hi, my name is Ricky and I am creating a fund raiser for Mr Chris Cummings who suffered a near fatal experience at Redbridge Football Club.

On the evening of Tuesday 28th Feb 2023 Mr Chris Cummings walked into an open gated facility at Redbridge FC, Oakside Stadium where a scheduled football game was just being called off. We now know Chris was looking for a shortcut or way through the club to get to the tube station instead of walking over the hill and back on himself, unfortunately Chris walked around the back of the clubhouse and tried to squeeze through a small opening between the brickwork of the building and the boundary fence causing himself to be stuck face down at floor level with no way to get back up.

This particular part of the ground is rarely visited by any staff members of Redbridge and Chris will now face the biggest battle of his life to survive until he can be found.

Chris spent the next 5 days in very cold conditions and we can only imagine what he had to endure with no food, drink or blanket to help keep himself warm. Chris had a thin jacket on and without it we maybe would not have him with us right now.

Chris was heard calling out on Thursday evening a full 48hrs after he first got stuck, during a night training session by one individual who stopped and shouted out but could not hear any response and thought it was someone from the tube station messing about and gave up on calling out.

Again on the Friday a separate individual heard a cry for help and again called out towards Chris to no avail, unfortunately neither the individual or Chris himself could hear any further calls from each other.

On the Saturday we had planned repairs work at the facility and as the late afternoon come round the works were put on hold as the weather was just too cold to continue with outdoor work so the guys on site called it a day and planned to revisit the issue on the Sunday.

This was vital in finding Chris as 4 members of staff were onsite all together fixing odd jobs and continuing with the planned works. Two of the members Joey and Leo went outside on top of the roof to look at a leak at the changing room end of the building and heard cries for help, they shouted out who is it but thought it was a prank and went down to confront myself and Matt.

It was only then that we decided to have a look and try and find someone who needed help, we all went outside to search for Chris and we unexpectedly found him in a terrible position face down in the dirt with no way to project his voice to be heard from the other side of the building.

We quickly realised how serious the situation was and I called the ambulance and fire department to rescue him. I got him a small cup of water with a straw whilst the others comforted him and asked basic questions that would help the emergency services on their arrival.

The fire department cut away the metal fence freeing Chris from one side before lifting him out and treating him onsite before rushing him off to hospital.

Chris is in his mid 70's and must of endured a torrid time thinking this was his last days. I will never forget the moment we found him and the pure joy in his voice and face that we had found him. I remember Chris asking if I was an angel and the relief on his face was overwhelming for us all.

This was just the start of another battle for Chris as he then spent the next 2-3months in hospital or in some sort of care as he was not well enough to be discharged. Chris unfortunately had to have his toes removed on one of his feet after a condition left the surgeons no alternative option.

Since we found Chris we have found out that he lost his phone only 24hrs before getting trapped, this in itself is a terrible coincidence as him simply having a phone to hand would of saved his life very quickly.

Chris is a very nice man who loves to help the community and now he needs a little help back from the community to help with expenses and maybe a walking aid.

Chris was 'The Mayor of Redbridge' back in 2011 and he probably never expected that his last days on earth were nearly spent at Redbridge FC in this terrible situation, we at Redbridge FC are so grateful we found him alive and would like to help Chris financially to assist him with his transition back to getting his life back to as normal as he possibly can, we thank God we found him on this particular day as the emergency services said it was very unlikely he would of survived another night.

Thanks for your donations to this great man who fought for life for 5 long days and nights in freezing conditions.

What a man.

*The beneficiary of the fundraiser, Malgorzata Kolter, is a friend of Chris' and he has confirmed that he would like her to receive the funds raised for him directly and then she will send them to him outside of GoFundMe.*