More than £20k raised for Manx teenager injured car crash

Lockie Kirk was airlifted to hospital in Liverpool following the crash in January

More than £20,000 has been raised for a Manx teenager who suffered serious head injuries in a car crash near Peel.

Loghlin Kirk, known as Lockie, is being treated at the Walton Centre in Liverpool following the collision on the Switchback Road on 11 January.

A fundraising page was set up by a friend to help pay for the 17-year-old's family to be with him.

Lockie's father, David Kirk, said the support they had received since the crash had been "outstanding".

Mr Kirk said his son had initially been put into a medically induced coma, but had now been taken off the ventilator and was breathing on his own.

"He's becoming more aware of his surroundings now he's off the sedation," he said.

He added that the family had been encouraged by more "feedback from him", such as the occasional "little squeeze of the hand".

The 17-year-old was seriously hurt in a crash on the Switchback road just outside Peel

Despite encouraging signs, Mr Kirk said the family was preparing itself for a lengthy recovery period of "months, perhaps a year, maybe more".

"Anything to do with head trauma is going to take a long time," he said.

However, he said they remained "really positive that he'll be walking again, and he could quite possibly walk out of here".

Reflecting on the fundraising page, which was set up by family friend Melissa Menton, Mr Kirk said he had been touched by the public response.

"I felt my heart has broken in slow motion and these warm gestures from total strangers... it's just really been outstanding," he said.

"A lot of the burden and the weight feels like it's been lifted by these people that have helped, and we do feel we've been carried on a wave of positivity," he added.