‘Hardest decision’: Aussie given grim ultimatum after Bali crash

A 24-year-old Melbourne man has been forced to make the “hardest decision” after he was seriously injured in a head-on motorcycle crash in Bali.

WARNING: Graphic

An Australian man has been forced to make the “hardest decision” after he was given a grim ultimatum following a head-on motorcycle crash in Bali.

Benji Ward sustained a serious head injury and broke four bones, including his tibia and fibula which were breaking “out of the skin”, after the late-night collision in Bali’s North Kuta district of Badung Regency in August.

Less than two months after the incident, the 24-year-old was given the difficult choice to either save his right leg or have it amputated.

After being flown home to the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne and completing his seventh operation, doctors gave Mr Ward the option to keep his leg and have it reconstructed, which came with an “extremely high” risk.

“[It] would require removing so much from his good leg and the dangers of infection was extremely high and wouldn’t provide Ben a great quality of life with ongoing chronic pain and could be two years before he could walk on that leg and the risk the leg would not respond after reconstruction could still fail was also extremely high,” an update on a GoFundMe fundraiser set up to support Mr Ward reads.

The 24-year-old was seriously injured after a head-on motorcycle crash in Bali. Picture: [e-mail]5

He was given the difficult ultimatum to save or amputate his limb. Picture: GoFundMe

Alternatively, the Melbourne man was told he could have the lower part of his leg, below this knee, amputated, which would have him “walking and back to life in about six months”.

“Ben made the hardest decision to have the lower part of his leg amputated to ensure he has a quality of life with a prosthetic lower leg,” the GoFundMe reads.

“This hasn’t been easy for Ben to decide, but he knows he will have a normal life and walk again.”

Mr Ward has since undergone two amputation procedures and it is believed he underwent a further surgery to help fit a prosthetic on Monday, according to the Daily Mail.

The 24-year-old recently shared a picture of himself in a wheelchair with his right limb bandaged on Instagram.

“Might have lost a leg but at least I got my mother back,” he captioned the post.

Mr Ward decided to have his leg amputated in order to walk again” Picture: GoFundMe

It was previously suggested Mr Ward had been injured in a hit-and-run.

“They’re (the police) trying to find the Russian guy who hit me because he also hit another person on the same night and broke his arm,” he reportedly said in a now-deleted video taken after the crash.

However, the Daily Mail later reported Mr Ward was at fault, according to Indonesian police.

According to the publication, Mr Ward was riding a Yamaha NMax with a 155cc engine in the early hours of the morning when he allegedly tried to overtake another rider when he entered a lane of oncoming traffic.

“The fact is, it was not hit and run crash. He himself hit the Russian,” First Inspector Putu Deniani previously told the Daily Mail.

“They told us that they have agreed to solve the matter peacefully, without taking legal action.”

More than $43,000 has been raised in the GoFundMe set up to support Mr Wards’s recovery.