A MAN who was given just hours to live has put up a remarkable fight to survive and now has a 50-50 chance of surviving.


Doctors at Southend Hospital have been amazed by wheelchair-bound Shane Bland, 26, who was on life support after suffering smoke inhalation during a fire in his flat in November last year.


Mr Bland, who suffers from myotonic dystrophy, a form of muscular dystrophy, was initially taken to Southend Hospital following the fire in November but later released. He develop lung problems and returned to hospital after collapsing on December 23.


While in hospital he developed pneumonia and his family were told to expect the worse but he has since fought back and doctors are now considering whether to operate to insert a tube into his airway to help him breath unaided and further increase his chances of survival.


His father, Stephen Bland, of Fairfax Drive, Westcliff relived his son’s recent roller coaster struggle to survive. He said: “At one point we were told Shane only had a couple of hours to live but he is still hanging on. He is such a fighter.”

Mr Bland, who lives with his son, helped rescue him from the blaze which badly damaged four flats in a house in Fairfax Drive, Westcliff, and left one man with serious burns.