Brit dad nearly dies after falling from third floor hotel balcony in turkey because he was afraid of MOTHS
Terrified family rushed to save him after he fell 45ft
A DAD was left fighting for his life after a horror plunge from a hotel balcony - because he was scared of MOTHS.
Kirk Shepherd, 34, plummeted 45ft from the third floor of Pine Bay Hotel, in Kusadasi, Turkey - after he got spooked when he was attacked by a swarm of the winged insects.
Kirk, from Lichfield, Staffordshire, has a phobia of moths - and when they started flocking around him he lost his footing and fell over the balcony.
Wife Joy, 45, and daughter Tyllar, 12, rushed to the balcony to see what had happened - and were horrified to see him crumpled on the floor, covered in blood.
Kirk was suffered a massive brain haemorrhage, and spent 24 hours on life support and four days in a medically induced coma, as well as three weeks in a Turkish hospital.
He also had a catalogue of injuries, including a perforated ear drum which has left him partially deaf, a broken shoulder bone, six broken ribs and a fractured vertebrae.
Terrified wife Joy was scared he wouldn't pull through, and hysterical daughter Tyllar thought he was DEAD - but incredibly he managed to make a miraculous recovery.
Kirk, a delivery driver, said: "We'd just been enjoying normal holiday activities - we'd been at the water park in the day and went to watch a magic show in the amphitheatre that evening, before heading back to the room.
"I'd gone out onto the balcony for a breath of fresh air - I'm scared of moths as it is, and when they started swarming around me I tried to escape, and lost my footing.
"I don't really remember anything after that."
The family-of-three had gone on what was supposed to be an idyllic two-week get-away at the end of May last year, with a group of 15 family and close friends - but just two days in, disaster struck.
Joy, a nursing assistant, said: "I saw Kirk go over, and Tyllar and I rushed out to the balcony.
"We looked over and just saw him crumpled on the floor, there was blood everywhere.
"It was horrendous - we were both just screaming and screaming, it was absolute madness.
"I rushed straight out to get downstairs - I didn't even realise at the time, but Tyllar had passed out from the shock.
"Other family comforted her and the other kids, while I was running to get to Kirk.
"It was three storeys up, and the floor was concrete - I immediately thought the worst, there were no signs of movement.
"It was complete mayhem."
Kirk was rushed to hospital, where medics battled to save him after the horrific fall.
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Joy added: "It was manic - obviously we struggled with language barrier too, which made it even harder to find out what was going on.
"Turkish hospitals are very strict, and it was a battle to get to see him.
"Tyllar wasn't even allowed in - I had to take a picture of him to prove he was OK, because after seeing it happen she was convinced he was dead.
"Family at home even flew out to Turkey, because we didn't know if he would make it.
"But Kirk eventually came out of hospital after three weeks, and two weeks after that we were allowed to fly home.
"Thomas Cook were amazing though everything - they really helped us with arranging hotels and flights."
As soon as they landed back in the UK, Joy took Kirk to the Burton Hospital, where he spent a further two weeks recovering from the trauma.
But even a year on Kirk still struggles physically, and the whole family have been left traumatised by the horror.
Kirk said: "It has been a struggle - I've recently gone back to work, but I'm still in a lot of pain.
"I don't remember the accident at all, but Joy and Tyllar saw it happen, so it's affected them a lot as well - Tyllar is still traumatised.
"But I'm not one for sitting around doing nothing, and I was determined to get things back to normal.
"I think I'm always going to have discomfort, but I try to stay positive.
"At least I'm alive."
The family are doing their best to move on with their lives - and Kirk and Joy have planned to celebrate the end of a difficult year by renewing their wedding vows.
Joy said: "It's been a long year - Kirk's basically had to re-learn everything.
"It's a struggle at times and I do still think about it - it's going to be an ongoing thing, but we're through the worst of it.
"I really thought he was going to die, so the fact he's still here is amazing and I'm so thankful for it.
"At one point I honestly thought I'd be coming home without him.
"We always talked about renewing our wedding vows - I wanted to do it at five years, but Kirk was adamant we should wait til 10 years.
"But after the accident, he said he thought I'd earned it!
"So we'll be renewing them the day before our sixth wedding anniversary.
"It's really just a celebration of everything we've been through and Kirk still being here, and a thanks to all our family and friends for the support with everything."
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