I died four times after horror car crash, says miracle speedway star
COURAGEOUS Lee Complin once died FOUR TIMES and now feels he is reborn again as a speedway rider.
The gritty Yorkshireman, 38, admits that he is lucky to still be alive after a horrific car crash in May 2008.
Complin flipped and rolled his Subaru Impreza on the A629 near Cullingworth, Bradford.
Medics arrived at the scene and pronounced him dead — but he was resuscitated and rushed into an ambulance.
He died three more times on the way to hospital and was saved each time.
After a month on a life support machine, he somehow walked out of hospital.
Nearly 15 years later, he has made a remarkable fightback to fitness and starts a new speedway season for Glasgow and Mildenhall over the next fortnight.
On the crash, Complin revealed: “I was in my Subaru Impreza in bad weather and can’t remember a thing. I must have hit a kerb, flipped and rolled.
“I was pronounced dead at the scene, I’d snapped my neck clean in half.
“They resuscitated me and then I died three times again on the way to the hospital in the ambulance.
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“The doctors got my parents in to say goodbye to me.
“I was on a life support machine and in intensive care for a month. I wasn’t getting better.
“I wasn’t breathing for myself and every time they turned the machine off, I was going to die again.
“They gave my parents an ultimatum to either keep my machine on or turn it off.
“My mum was like, ‘No, you’re not turning it off’. My dad was, ‘Just turn it off’, as I wasn’t going to be able to function, walk, talk or eat even if I survived.
“They had to drill through my skull three times to take the pressure off my brain.
“But I made it through the night and, two weeks later, I had managed to become stable.
“They cleared an infection on my chest, I started breathing for myself and eventually I came round. They said it wasn’t possible.
“I was told I’d have to stay in hospital for a year and I had to rebuild myself.
“But just a month later, I returned back home on the train. I walked out of the intensive care unit and the doctors and nurses couldn’t believe it — they said it was a miracle.
“Doctors said the only reason I survived, defying all science, was because I was so fit.
“I didn’t drink or smoke and my neck was that muscly that when it snapped, my shoulders stopped it moving.
“Nothing scares me now because I believe everything happens for a reason. If I want something I’m going to do it as I shouldn’t really be here.”
Complin says some of his determination comes from his anger at being picked on at school and how that made him eventually turn to building up his body.
He added: “I don’t like bullying but I was bullied at school and it wasn’t nice. Maybe it was because I was small at school and there were hard lads.
“There were like the rugby lads or football lads. I was football and because I didn’t play rugby, I was called a pansy. We had this banter and then it got a bit tense.
“These rugby players were having a go and one time I just said, ‘Go on then’, and took them on.
“Obviously I lost because there were four of them. But then I did training for about five or six months, went back to school and they were doing it again to me.
“So again I told them, ‘Come on then’, and I did all four of them.”
Complin now knows he has one last chance at speedway after missing over a decade — and he clearly wants to make it work.
He added: “I had 11 years out from 2011 to 2022. I quit because I had family issues with my ex-partner. We had a child and it was difficult financially.
“The bodybuilding came after I had to finish speedway in 2011.
“I needed something to keep me busy and focused and I started winning competitions.
“It’s about dedication and you have to bulk up to 16 stone and then you go into competitions at 11 or 12 stone.
“I had to eat 7,500 calories a day and in one sitting I’d have eight fried eggs and brown bread. I had to eat until I could not eat anymore.
“But now I’m over the moon to be back racing and those 11 years out was the time I needed to find my path.
“I’m covered in tattoos and got one on my back after my car crash. It says, ‘What doesn’t kill me only makes me stronger’.”