England’s strongest man, Kane Francis, has received thousands of pounds worth of donations to his GoFundMe to help pay for surgery after sustaining a career-threatening injury.
Francis, 32, from Weymouth, suffered a snapped tendon in his thigh while training in June 2024.
He was advised that surgery would be necessary with a cost of £15,000, something Francis couldn’t afford,
After hearing about Francis’s problems, Evans Nana a fellow competitor and ‘like a brother’ to Francis, heard this and advised a GoFundMe page should be started to raise money.
Samuel Fabre spoke to Kane about what he’s been through in recent weeks.
“I initially said no because I felt as a bloke you don’t want to be asking for handouts or to be begging for it, so I just thought I’ll try and figure it out myself.“
“I had no idea how to though.”
Despite Francis’ disapproval Nana created a donation page with a goal of £12,000.
“The next day he rung me and told me had set a page up and that it had gotten to £5,000, when saw this myself I was left gobsmacked and totally blown away.”
Then to look again 3 days later and see £10,000 there, that was when I started to come round to the idea of it.”
“I realised that these people wanted to help me and realised that they’ve invested their money into my surgery to help me recover.”
“That motivates me even more to get back to where I once was.”
Francis underwent surgery on the 13th of January, with the doctor confirming that it was successful.
Rehabilitation started yesterday as he hopes to train again in four months’ time.
Francis hopes to compete in the 2026 strongman competition to claim back his title of England’s strongest man.