A football fan has lost his fingers while saving a group of kids from a "smoke bomb" firework.
Paul Markham, 50, was celebrating Blackpool FC's victory with hundreds of other fans outside Bloomfield Road stadium last Sunday when he intercepted the firework.
The roofer, also known as "Speedy", saw the explosive being fired into the air before landing into a group of children.
In an act described as "unlike anything anyone had ever seen", he rushed to remove it but as he did so the firework detonated, blowing off his thumb, index and middle fingers.
Fellow fans witnessing the scene desperately sought to retrieve his digits in the hope they could be reattached, LancsLive reports.
They managed to find the missing fingers and brought them to him as he was taken to hospital.
A crowdfunding page set up by a school friend to help him in case his career were affected by the tragic incident has already risen £9,000, way above the initial £1,000 target.
Jay Latham said: "Speedy is a very popular and well known guy and within a day of setting up the Crowdfunding page we managed to raise around £6,000.
"We didn't expect something like this to happen as he wasn't at a protest or anything like that, it was a time of celebration.
"I believe for the people who witnessed it it was unlike anything they had ever seen and they were shaking.
"So many people who were there have come forward though to thank him for his bravery.
"I started the page to help him financially as we've been friends for years and that's what friends do when friends are need."
This wasn't the first act of heroism by Speedy.
After news of the accident travelled on social media many people reported that he had been previously known for putting out around four fires in total mainly caused by troublesome youths.
Around a year ago a planter was set alight in Blackpool which he managed to put out before fire crews arrived.
His friends and family are keen to keep raising money for him so to find out more, and to donate, please visit the JustGiving page here.
