Ian Francis, 48, went blind at age 24, underwent a brain op, had a kidney removed, been electrocuted, narrowly escaped an IRA bomb attack — and his guide dog ran away.
Dad-of-five Ian joked: “The Grim Reaper is after me. I keep telling him to b****r off.
“I must be the luckiest bloke in Britain to still be here after all that.”
Ian’s latest near-miss came on Valentine’s Day.
A gas canister exploded in his neighbour’s home in Oxford, causing a three-storey block of six flats to collapse.
One resident died.
Ian, who lives with girlfriend Sammy Clark, 34, said: “Our block is attached to it and nearly fell down as well.
“Luckily we’d popped out to the shops.”
Ian’s bad luck began in 1989 when he an electric shock from a TV he was fixing threw him across the room.
Three years later he was electrocuted again by a faulty socket.
He said: “I was rushed to hospital with burns on my hand.
"It was that year that I was registered blind. I was born partially sighted and it just got worse over the years.”
In 1993 a stolen van ran him over. In 1996 he was in the next street as an IRA bomb injured 200 in Manchester.
Two years later a growth was found on his brain. He said: “I said my goodbyes to my children.
“But they managed to take it out through my ear.”
Another hit and run driver almost killed him in 2006.
Months later he had a heart attack in the street.
He “died” 17 times in the ambulance as paramedics kept battling to bring back from the brink.
The next month an accidental Prozac overdose left him in intensive care.
Four years ago he survived a ten-car pile-up on the M4.
In June 2015 his guide dog Toffee ran off for three days.
In December he had his right kidney removed in a cancer scare.
Last month he was fitted with a pacemaker. Then came the gas blast.
Ian, who has six grandkids, said: “It’s crazy. But at least it gives me a few good stories to tell people.”
Dad-of-five Ian joked: “The Grim Reaper is after me. I keep telling him to b****r off.
“I must be the luckiest bloke in Britain to still be here after all that.”
Ian’s latest near-miss came on Valentine’s Day.
A gas canister exploded in his neighbour’s home in Oxford, causing a three-storey block of six flats to collapse.
One resident died.
Ian, who lives with girlfriend Sammy Clark, 34, said: “Our block is attached to it and nearly fell down as well.
“Luckily we’d popped out to the shops.”
Ian’s bad luck began in 1989 when he an electric shock from a TV he was fixing threw him across the room.
Three years later he was electrocuted again by a faulty socket.
He said: “I was rushed to hospital with burns on my hand.
"It was that year that I was registered blind. I was born partially sighted and it just got worse over the years.”
In 1993 a stolen van ran him over. In 1996 he was in the next street as an IRA bomb injured 200 in Manchester.
Two years later a growth was found on his brain. He said: “I said my goodbyes to my children.
“But they managed to take it out through my ear.”
Another hit and run driver almost killed him in 2006.
Months later he had a heart attack in the street.
He “died” 17 times in the ambulance as paramedics kept battling to bring back from the brink.
The next month an accidental Prozac overdose left him in intensive care.
Four years ago he survived a ten-car pile-up on the M4.
In June 2015 his guide dog Toffee ran off for three days.
In December he had his right kidney removed in a cancer scare.
Last month he was fitted with a pacemaker. Then came the gas blast.
Ian, who has six grandkids, said: “It’s crazy. But at least it gives me a few good stories to tell people.”
Music: "Dub Eastern" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Source: The Sun
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