'Vic needs you' - locals start fundraiser for Bognor Regis pensioner who lost limbs in savage dog attack

August 18 2023 was the day Vic Franklin’s life changed. Walking his dog near his Bognor Regis home, he sustained serious injuries when two out-of-control rottweilers escaped from a nearby property and attacked him.

The aftermath was brutally permanent. In the weeks and months that followed, doctors amputated Vic’s left leg, right arm and left hand in a series of invasive surgeries that changed his life forever, but Vic became quietly famous for his courage in the face of impossible odds. ”I’ve always got a smile on my face,” he told Sussex Police interviewers in January. “I get down at times, but then I think to myself ‘no, I’m not having this’. At times I get sentimental and I do have a little bit of a tear, but I pull myself out of it and carry on.”

Behind the scenes though, family members say Vic’s life is much harder then he lets on, and he’s in need of serious help. “Like most people locally, we assumed that Vic would have been taken care of by social services and given the opportunity to live his life as fully as possible,” said Kerry Applin, who started the fundraiser. “But he’s been basically living in his front room. He can’t get out, he can’t get upstairs. He’s trapped.”

Working alongside the family, Kerry and his team are trying to raise between £15,000 and £25,000 for Vic’s continued care – money they will use to install a wet-room and stairlift in Vic’s flat, buy a properly equipped mobility vehicle and landscape his garden to create an accessible outdoor space.

"He goes out twice a week to get some rehab, but apart from that he sits at home watching his TV set,” he continued. But before all this, he was an active guy; he was out walking the dog twice a day, he went fishing, he met his friends down the pub, he was a big Chelsea supporter. But now he can’t do anything. He hasn’t got a wet room, hasn’t got a stairlift, he can’t even get to his back garden.”

Alongside a gofundme, which has already raised more than £2,000, the team is also hosting a quiz night at Nyewood Junior School on May 10. Starting at 7pm, tickets cost £12 each and guests are invited to bring their own snacks.

Vic’s son Lee said the support they’ve received thus far has been ‘overwhelming’, making clear that the fundraiser stands to make a huge difference to his father’s quality of life. “All the family work 9-5 Monday to Friday, with young kids, and it’s very difficult to find the time,” he said.

"Dad’s a proud old school man who has a hard-time asking for help. He’s an 80-year-old man who grew up in London, there was always this idea that you were supposed to be the man of the house, control everything and do everything. But the reality is, he’s trapped in his living room. And this fundraiser will just give him a bit of that freedom back.”