I was involved in a serious car accident in September 2007.

And believe me, there were lots of times after that accident that I thought that I would never play footy or any sport ever again.

Can you take me through what happened?

The accident occurred in Warrnambool – Simpson Street to be precise – in the early hours of the morning.

I was with a group of mates in the car after being out for the night and into the early morning.

I was in the front passenger seat of the car.

I was asleep, resting against my left arm which was up against the passenger window.

The next minute, the car crashed into a tree and where I was sitting took the force of the accident.

My left arm was pinned up against the tree and I took the full impact of the accident.

The car was written off. There were four of us in the car and I was the only one injured.

I was taken up to the hospital.

They had one look at my arm and said it was extensively damaged and I would need to go to Geelong Hospital.

I was air-lifted down to Geelong.

I can still remember the doctors warning me before the first operation, that when I woke up from the surgery I might not have my left arm.

There was nothing I could do about it.

I was in a hopeless and helpless situation.

I was in the hands of the medical people.

The doctors told me my left arm had been degloved, which meant there was no skin on it.

They just said that they would see what they could salvage.

I was told that my ulna-nerve in my left hand had been severed and that the bones in my left elbow and arm had been shattered as a result of the accident.

There were a group of surgeons including neuro and bone people who did the first operation.

I was relieved that, when I came out of the operation, my left arm was still intact.

But I was told there were hundreds of stitches, staples and skin grafts in my arm and they were worried about infections.

Did you have any more operations on your left arm?

I had two more operations after the initial one.

They told me I would have a long road of rehab and physiotherapy before I would have use of my arm and they were right.

I spent more than two weeks in hospital.

I had my arm in a brace for six months.

And I had countless dressings changed on my wounds for months.

Ben, before the accident and injury had you been working?

Yes. I was an apprentice carpenter with Port Fairy’s Jim Chambers.

I was left handed, so there was no way I could continue as a carpenter. I spent lots of time in my rehab thinking what I could do with myself as I was not a great student at school.

I had a spell in Melbourne to get away from everything for a while.

I came back and ended up joining Ray White in Warrnambool as a real estate salesman.

I’ve been there for seven years and really enjoy the job.

Let’s go back to your footy career. Where did that begin?

I played juniors with Port Fairy. I played my first senior game in 2005 while I was still eligible for the under 18s.

I’ll never forget my first senior game against Terang.

Brad Sholl was our coach and Ronny Burns was playing.

So were Josh Walters, Mark Inia and Brad McCosh.

I went between playing for the under 18s and seniors in 2006.

I played in losing preliminary final games for Port Fairy’s under 18 side in 2005 and 2006 before having the accident in 2007.

I played no sport for more than three years after the accident. I got a phone call from  Koroit’s Chris McLaren in 2012 and he asked me if I wanted to come over to training.

I played a few games but didn’t play in 2013, as I was focused on my job.

Adam Dowie took over as the coach at Koroit in 2014, so I thought I would have a crack.

I put in a solid preseason. I struggled to hold my position, but in the end I got a tagging role and I was comfortable with that.

I played in Koroit’s 2014 premiership side.

I will always be grateful to Adam and everyone at Koroit for that year.

I started doing boxing in 2015 and was really enjoying it, but I came back and played a few games with Koroit at the end of the season. My body was shot and I was emotionally over the footy, so I retired in 2016.

It’s not a bad effort from a bloke who had massive injuries to his left arm to play footy and do boxing. Do you sometimes pinch yourself about what has happened?

I’ve been extremely lucky – things could have been a lot worse for me.

I was very lucky that I had great medical people at all levels helping me following the accident. 

I took part in the “War In The Bool 2” boxing tournament last weekend.

I fought in the middleweight amateur section.

I find training for boxing fits into my work schedule really well.

I had my fifth amateur fight against a bloke from Wonthaggi.

I won again – I’m undefeated in my five fights at this stage.

I will not be pursuing a career in boxing.

I just enjoy the sport and I’ve found it’s a great way to retain my fitness.