A MAN from Canvey who was involved in a serious bike crash in the Philippines is in recovery after a successful operation.

Jason Smith, 51, was taken to St Paul’s Hospital, Iloilo, in a critical condition after he and his wife were involved in a serious motorcycle accident in Kalibo on Wednesday.

Both suffered severe injuries, but Jason also had kidney failure and was later put on a mechanical ventilator.

Initially, the hospital could not perform a life-saving operation on him Jason because they did not have enough blood, leading to friends and family appealing for donations.

His friends and family on Canvey, where Jason grew up, have now reported he had a successful operation on his leg and thigh, however, he is still waiting for an operation on his severely-damaged wrist.

A statement on behalf of his family, said: “Jason should be off the ventilator in a few days thanks to the donations which meant he could have the operations.

“Obviously we still have a long way to go but at least he is off the critical list for now.”

Despite the success of his operation, Jason’s rare bloody type, O Negative is incredibly rare and the family are looking for donors to help him.

Jason also requires more funding to keep him in hospital recovering and perhaps to even bring him home in future.

The family’s spokesperson added: “We still need donations from anyone on the JustGiving page as he needs a lot more treatment and will probably be in hospital for at least a month.

“Medication is ridiculously expensive, as is the hospital and they don’t have insurance.

“We are all working hard to get donations, he is not out of the woods yet

“The family and Jason’s friends wish to thank all for caring and compassionate people out there who helped save his life.”

Jason grew up on Canvey moved to the Philippines five years ago to be with his wife.

While out there, a storm destroyed the community near to him and he worked to re-build their homes.

Jason’s close friend Stewart Lewis said: “It has been quite an emotional day. I’m feeling a lot more positive as I was a few days ago as we said, we thought we might lose a very good friend of ours.

“The support has been overwhelming and it shows what can happen if people all pull together.

“Jason is one of life’s big characters that a lot of people would miss and he is a great guy.

“It is not the end of it, we will be having another meeting as a group to work out what has been paid for and think about more fundraising events for him.”

The Just Giving page’s target is £20,000, with £8,000 raised already.

Anyone wishing to help, can donate at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/markmarsom-ridgway