Didcot music fans hold fundraising gig to help bereft shopowner beat the blues (From The Oxford Times)

Didcot music fans hold fundraising gig to help bereft shopowner beat the blues

7:00am Wednesday 17th March 2010 in

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A DIDCOT musician says he has “lost everything” after he was left for dead in a hit-and-run crash.

John ‘Baby John’ Horgan, who has run Didcot’s only music shop since 1996, was found lying unconscious on the B4494 at Chain Hill between Wantage and Newbury after he was knocked off his motorcycle on September 16.

Police believe the motorist who hit him drove off without stopping, while opportunist thieves stole Mr Horgan’s £16,000 customised Suzuki Bandit 600 as he lay helpless in the road.

Since then, a series of medical setbacks have left 47-year-old Mr Horgan close to death, his business has folded, and he relies on food parcels donated by friends.

I have good days and bad days, but my customers, the music community, my friends and family and the bike community have been incredible

John 'Baby John' Horgan

The local music community is getting together for a fundraising gig on Friday at the Red Hot Blues Club, held at Didcot Labour Club.

The road accident left Mr Horgan with three broken ribs, a punctured lung, internal bleeding, a fractured collar-bone, leg injuries, severe concussion and short-term memory loss.

He has no recollection of the crash, how the other vehicle drove off, or who stole his bike — which he described as “his pride and joy”.

Days after being discharged, he returned to hospital with pneumonia, and weeks later developed a second lung infection.

He realised that reopening the Baby John music shop in Cockcroft Road, Didcot, was impossible.

“Unfortunately, I could not cope with the situation physically or mentally, and because of my head injuries, I was not thinking straight,” he said.

Then, on January 10, he collapsed with a blood clot on his lung, just managing to call 999 before he passed out.

He said: “Out of everything that has happened, if I had not made that phone call when I did, I would not be here. I was seriously ill.

“The amazing thing is that I’m still walking, talking and not paralysed. Somebody upstairs was definitely looking after me that evening.”

But six weeks after returning home, blood-thinning drugs prevent surgeons from operating on his collar-bone or leg. His injuries mean he is not even able to play his guitar.

The locks have been changed on his shop, his income has dried up, and he relies on friends and family bringing him food parcels.

Without evidence about the nature of his motorcycle crash, his insurers paid him just £750.

He said he had lost so much money through his injury, his shop would never reopen.

He said: “I’ve lost everything. Every pain, every twitch, every shortness of breath, I think I’m having a heart attack or I have another blood clot.

“I have good days and bad days, but my customers, the music community, my friends and family and the bike community have been incredible.

“It has affected me in a big way, and I’ve been extremely low, but the fact I’ve got all these people rallying for me and prepared to do all this for me, it just makes my life worthwhile. We all have to have money to survive, but I feel the richest man on earth at the moment.”

Red Hot Blues Club organiser Annie Birchall said hundreds of local people wanted to show their support for Mr Horgan.

She said: “Without Baby John’s shop, people in Didcot are bereft.

“It was not just somewhere he sold guitar strings, it was where people met to talk about and make music.

“If it does not open again, it will be a huge loss.”

Entry to the fundraising gig, at 7.30pm on Friday, will cost £5.