A GROUP of childhood pals have banded together to raise money for their friend whose leg was crushed during a horrific work accident just before Christmas.

37-year-old Dan 'Robbo' Robinson, from Dalton, was at work when he was involved in a serious accident with plant machinery.

He was rushed to Furness General Hospital in a critical condition where medical staff could not move him until he was stabilised.  Once he was stable he was moved to Royal Preston Hospital however was still in a critical condition.

He underwent a lengthy operation as doctors were faced with removing a vein from one leg to put into the other to save it. 

The Mail: Dan 'Robbo' on the far left with his childhood friendsThe intricate operation was meant to last seven hours however was extended to ten. After theatre, he was then transferred to the ICU unit.

Thankfully Dan woke up from his sedation in the afternoon however he was in a lot of pain.

The doctors revealed he had two pelvic fractures and his leg had been crushed.

He is still currently in the ICU unit while doctors undergo extensive observations.

Dan, who has three children including two-month-old Archie, ten-year-old Mia and 11-year-old step-daughter Kiera, is going to be in long-term recovery due to the extent of his injuries.

His partner Sarah Unsworth has been incurring extensive costs traveling back and forth to Preston with the children. 

The Mail: The childhood friends who have created the fundraising pageHis childhood friends, some of whom he has known for 25 years or longer, banded together to help in whatever they could.

These are 36-year-old David 'Brick' Poulsen along with Mike, Mark, Tom, Jonny, Lou and Tom McNeil.

They created a GoFundMe page to help pay for Dan's family's travel costs and any unexpected occurrences.

David said: "The fact that this was timed just before Christmas is horrendous.  Dan is now going to be out of work for the foreseeable few months from this accident that almost took his life.

"We joked that we all know how he will try and get out of buying a round but we never guessed he'd take it this far.

"We are so grateful for him to wake up from his operation and to be able to recognise his youngest son Archie however he's not out of the woods yet.

"His recovery is going to be very long term and we will find out from doctors the true extent of his injuries, what this means and the potential effect it's going to have on the children.

"We all wanted to chip in a few quid and we were hoping to raise a couple of grand. Dalton is only a small place however everyone looks out for each other and this incident has shown that because we have already raised beyond £6,000 and it's still going.

"It shows just how well-loved Dan is. We and the people of Dalton want him to know he has our hearts and minds on this part of his journey."

To donate to the fundraiser, please visit the GoFundMe page.