An Edinburgh Festival sword swallower was rushed to hospital after suffering serious injuries from a huge blade during his act.
Popular street artist Gareth Williams, known as The Mighty Gareth, was performing last week when the stunt went ‘tragically wrong’.
Williams sustained severe internal injuries and lost a significant amount of blood before doctors performed emergency surgery in a bid to save his life.
He spent a week in hospital and is now continuing to recover at home, but medics have warned that he faces a long and slow process to fully heal from his injuries and will no longer able to perform his signature trick due to the damage caused to his body during the horror accident
The Mighty Gareth, who is from Winchester, has been attracting huge crowds to his famous sword swallowing act at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for over 30 years.
The highly experienced performer has swallowed a two-foot sword over 3000 times without incident.
Close friend and fellow Edinburgh street performer Matt Keys is now raising funds to help Gareth recover without the worry of losing his income.
He said: “I’m raising funds to help my friend and fellow performer The Mighty Gareth recover from a serious injury he suffered whilst performing his famous sword swallowing act.
“Gareth is a highly experienced festival, circus and street performer. He can be seen annually on the big circus stage at Glastonbury Festival and at the Edinburgh Fringe Street Festival.
“He has swallowed a sword over 3000 times but last week it went tragically wrong and nearly killed him. He suffered an internal injury and severe internal bleeding.
“He spent a whole week in hospital and has now been released home but is looking at a slow recovery. Doctors have said he is no longer going to be able to perform his signature act the sword swallow.”
The freak accident has also left other members of the street performing community in shock, with pals asking their followers to support Gareth in his recovery.
In a post on social media, Kate Mior said: “My very dear friend Gareth Williams had an accident while performing his 30-year-old sword swallowing routine.
“For those of you out there who think it isn’t real, I can assure you the danger is very real and it can happen to even the most seasoned pros. Thankfully, he is alive and on the road to recovery.
“But he will be out of commission for a while. Please donate something, Gareth is a wonderful person and a good friend. He helped me a lot when I was building my solo show.”
As well as the signature sword swallowing act, Gareth’s celebrated routine also contains magic, fire eating and whip cracking.
He often enlists members of the public to help with the show and has been photographed juggling swords above the heads of volunteers.
The daring artist is also known to juggle chainsaws during performances and often puts on a show on the streets of his home town.
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