Heartbreaking interview from mother of Taylor Gough as Leicester fundraiser reaches £40,000

A justgiving.com fundraising page set-up to assist stricken Leicester back row Taylor Gough has so far raised nearly £40,000 for the 20-year-old who is suffering from paralysis and unable to move his legs following a mid-June road incident.

Gough suffered multiple injuries, including severe spinal injuries, on the weekend ahead of the squad's return to phase one training at Oval Park last month and remains in intensive care at Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham.

In a courageous interview on Leicester Tigers TV, Kerry Gough - his mother - has talked about her son's fight to walk again, a heartbreaking story about a youngster who only ever wanted to become a professional rugby player for the club.

Asked what being a Leicester player meant to Taylor, she said: "Everything. That's all he wanted... I was driving him to college one morning and saying you really have to knuckle down and he said, 'I'll be alright mum because I'm going to play for Leicester Tigers. I'm going to be a professional rugby player... I will make it mum'."

In a lengthy interview about her son's current situation, she spoke about her sense of dread arriving at the hospital on the Sunday of his accident. "Absolutely devastating. When we got to the Queens Med we must have waited two hours to even hear if he was okay. 

"They had to work on him to stabilise him. Then we got told he was being taken up to ICU to ventilate and sedate him. We still didn't know at that point and I actually asked the nurse when she came is he going to die and she just looked at the floor and said we don't know.

"To hear that... it was absolutely devastating. They eventually took us in to see him and oh my god, it was the worst thing I have ever had to do to see him lying there wired up to monitors, there must have been 15 people around his bed. It was absolutely devastating, to say the least, something I would never want any parent to ever go through ever."

Leicester have rallied around the Gough family since the accident, director of rugby Geordan Murphy explaining: "All of us were impacted, from the playing squad to the backroom, by this news. Taylor is popular with everyone at this club and all of us are thinking of him and his family during this time.

"The club has supported him however we can at the moment and will continue to do so for however long Taylor and his family need. 

"His teammates, especially those who he came through the junior ranks with, have had this on their minds during what has already been a challenging period. I can't speak highly enough about each of them and the way they have shown support and compassion for Taylor and his family ahead of anything else."

Leicester have already liaised with The Matt Hampson Foundation, who have been in contact with Gough and his family to provide support.

• To contribute to the justgiving.com page raising funds to assist Taylor Gough, please click here