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Louise Thomas
Editor
A dad died on his morning commute after falling off his bicycle without a helmet because two cats fighting in the street cut across his path and got stuck in his wheels.
Chris Reeves, 52, a Network Rail signaller from Rugby, Warwickshire, was airlifted to Walsgrave Hospital (UHCW) in Coventry after falling off his bike on July 30 2024.
The father-of-two suffered a serious brain injury and despite doctors performing an emergency operation to release pressure in his head, he died five days later surrounded by friends and family.
His son Dominic Reeves, 20, who is studying video game design at Birmingham City University, described the freak accident as being “unimaginably unfair” and said his father was a “big, soft friendly giant” who “deserves the very best”.
Dominic has launched a fundraiser to give his father a proper send-off and said he would have wanted everyone to remember the good times and have a “big piss-up”.
“He was only about five minutes away from work – he nearly got there,” Dominic told PA Real Life.
“You never think it’s going to happen to you until it does.
“It’s tough to say because I want my dad back, but his injuries could have been lessened or he could have been completely fine if he was wearing a helmet.
“So wear a bloody helmet.”
Chris was found semi-conscious by a passer-by on Abbey Street in Rugby at around 5.30am on July 30 after falling off his bike and hitting his head.
CCTV footage from an adjacent garage later showed Chris had come off his bike after two cats who were fighting in the street cut across his path.
“He must have startled them as he came round the corner and they ran out in front of him,” said Dominic.
“One of them went under the front tyre and unfortunately the other went under the back tyre.
“Somehow he’s come off his bike and sustained a really bad brain injury.”
Chris was sedated and taken by ambulance to a nearby field before being airlifted to Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry.
Dominic remembers visiting Chris the day before the accident.
“The last time I saw him was on the Monday when I went round to help him with some stuff for grandad,” he said.
“We watched Blackadder: Back And Forth and then I hugged him, as usual, because you don’t expect it.”
The next day, Dominic was suddenly woken up by his mum, Kia Cressey, who said “your dad’s had an accident, he’s at Walsgrave”.
He rushed to the hospital with his brother Jack, 17, and his godfather Simon Wright, one of his dad’s best friends.
“I saw the CT scan of his brain and it was not good,” said Dominic.
Chris underwent an emergency operation to relieve pressure on his brain and showed signs of improvement.
“For the rest of the week, whenever I asked for updates, they said he was doing well,” said Dominic.
But on Sunday, Dominic received a call to say Chris’s temperature was out of control and by the time he arrived at the hospital, his condition had declined.
Chris was not responding to the medication and Dominic was told by doctors there was a real chance he would not make it through the night.
“We spoke to the doctor who said he was very, very poorly, and whether he makes it to morning is up in the air,” said Dominic.
“He said he will either go under his own steam or we will have to switch off the machines and let him drift off.
“So we got all the family together and we were all there with him.
“They eventually turned off his vitals and to be fair, he really did fight to the end.
“I put my hand on his hand and the other on his chest and then finally, he drifted off.”
Before he died, Dominic placed a Bounty chocolate bar in his father’s hand as Chris loved coconut, as well as video games, an activity they bonded over.
“The accident should never have happened and I will always be angry about that because it’s unimaginably unfair,” he said.
“If you were to ask someone what’s the most unlucky and unpredictable way to go, you couldn’t think of that.”
Dominic had been concerned his father would continue living without any quality of life, a situation Chris explicitly said he would have hated.
Chris had first-hand experience of what it was like caring for someone with a brain-affecting illness after moving in with his father Peter, 78, who has dementia.
Dominic has launched a fundraiser on GoFundMe to give his father the best possible send-off.
“I remember him saying to me that if ever anything were to happen to him, he did not want it to be a sombre, dressed-in-black thing,” explained Dominic.
“He wanted to bring people together, to remember the good times and basically have one big piss-up.”
Since his death, Dominic and his family said they have been inundated with messages of support on social media.
“It’s only now that I’m realising how big a man he was in the community,” he said.
“I don’t think anyone can ever fill those shoes.
“I’m eternally grateful to my dad and extremely grateful to everyone that donates because for the man he was, he deserves the very best.”
To support Dominic visit: www.gofundme.com/f/christian-lurch-reeves
