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By Mark Brassel

The road will be a long and tough one for Lismore Turf Club’s secretary-manager Scott Jones, after the 35-year-old was involved in a tragic gas explosion at the racecourse last Thursday week.

Jones will remain in the care of the burns unit in Royal Brisbane Hospital for some time after receiving burns to nearly half his body.

Already, the father of three kids (George, 9, Sammie, 7 and Stella, 3) has had surgery for skin grafts to his arms and hands and further grafts are inevitable.

Scott Jones with wife Liz and daughter Stella

Wife, Liz Jones, told the Lismore Northern Star most of Scott’s body is wrapped in compression bandages: “Scott is being looked after by the head specialist, Dr Jason Brown, so we feel pretty good about that,” Mrs Jones said.

LTC’s deputy chairman, Mike Cleaver, is running the Club in Scott’s absence: “We’re in constant contact with the family for updates as we are planning a massive fund raiser, most likely to run in tandem with our mid-February race meeting.

“We have our heart set on Scotty walking through the door on the day so we’ll be guided by his condition.

“People like Darren Beadman have kindly offered some fantastic things to auction so it will be a big day – nothing like a garage sale. It will be held at the racecourse and all race clubs in the Northern Rivers region want to be involved.”

Mr Cleaver said Scott Jones’s condition is improving: “The prognosis is quite good and the medical team has been very positive.

“Scott is now awake after being in an induced coma and he’s well aware of what has happened. He can move his hands and feet but although he has a long way to go, he’s in very good hands.

“And Racing NSW has been helping us out with our next race meeting on (Friday) December 22. It’s our second biggest meeting of the year behind Cup day with a huge Christmas seafood feast organised.”

A GoFundMe page has been set up to financially support the Scott Jones family.