A Gladiator stuntman fears he may lose his leg after a horror fall while renovating - prompting Russell Crowe to donate £5,000 for his limb-saving op.

Hollywood stuntman Charlie Allan had been building the front entrance of his garage when he slipped causing his leg to give way 'crunching' down on his left ankle.

At first, the 61-year-old - who has worked on Gladiator and Robin Hood with Crowe - thought he'd be able to manage the injury and tried to push through the pain.

But when his calf began to 'seize up' and blood clots developed in his lower leg, the dad-of-two knew something was wrong.

(Image: Kennedy News & Media) After initially being sent home from A&E, Charlie was admitted to University Hairmyres Hospital in Glasgow where he spent three days waiting for a vein bypass after his leg turned white and went numb.

But 24 hours before the operation, the actor and stuntman claims he was told the surgery could not go ahead due to previous blunt-force trauma in his right leg.

As a result he was sent home with painkillers and blood thinners and reportedly told no other procedure was available for him under the NHS.

Following the devastating news, his wife Chara Gallos-Allan, 33, began to search for alternative treatment in hopes of saving her husband's leg ahead of Christmas.

A GoFundMe page has now been set up to raise 25,000 euros to undergo an endovascular thrombectomy outside of the UK to help him walk again.

Over the years, Charlie has starred in four Ridley Scott films including Gladiator and, after setting up the fundraiser, good friend Russell Crowe has donated £5,000 to the cause.

To donate to Charlie's GoFundMe page, follow the link here: https://gofund.me/1454ce3f.

Charlie, from Edinburgh in Scotland, said: "At the moment I can only walk about 20 feet before stopping as the pain becomes unbearable.

"I'm on my feet all the time. I run an events charity and I teach lads sword work to get on TV.

"I'm an actor, stuntman and combat stuntman and it's severely impacted my life. I can't chase after my son at the moment as he gets older and it's ruined my quality of life.

"[When the injury happened],I was working on my house and building the entrance to my garage which has a 12-15 foot ditch around it because it's a three-storey thing.

"I was stepping off the platform that I was building and as I stepped off it, my leg gave way and went off at a weird angle and I came down heavily on my left ankle. It made this awful crunching sound.

"It swelled up quite badly the next day. I took some anti-inflammatory so it kind of got better but the following Sunday I was at a country fair and my calf started to seize up on me.

"I thought it was cramp at first and it got really painful and I had to stop on the way back to the car.

"It started to throb really heavily and this is when I went to A&E. The next thing it went numb, white and discoloured. I went to the doctors and they checked it and they couldn't find a pulse in my leg so I went to hospital.

"They put me straight on a drip and I had lots of scans. They told me it was difficult to operate on and then 24 hours before the operation they said they weren't going to operate and sent me home with blood thinners and pain relief.

"They booked me in for a vein mapping a couple of month's later but I only had a consultation on this day and they told me there was nothing more they could do.

"They couldn't do this because they found damage in this leg too.

"My wife is from Germany and they seem to have a more high tech medical system and were adamant that there was something we could do but they said they don't do this procedure in the UK."

Charlie's severe injury has led to complete arterial thrombosis in his left leg which has placed him in a critical condition due to the inadequate blood supply to his limb.

According to the NHS, arterial thrombosis is a blood clot that develops in an artery and is dangerous as it can obstruct or stop the flow of blood to major organs, such as the heart or brain.

The GoFundMe page currently stands at more than £23,000 and Charlie says it was 'humbling' to see Crowe, who he calls a good friend, donate to his cause. He said it would be amazing to reach the target ahead of Christmas as the sooner he gets the procedure done the better chances there are of saving his leg.

Charlie said: "It feels awesome and makes me feel very humble that Russell Crowe has donated. Me and Russell go back to Gladiator. In Gladiator I was a stuntman and actor. I'm the guy that shouts at Russell Crowe with a severed head in my hand at the beginning of the movie.

"It always raises a hair on the back after seeing this scene. There were 15,000 men on set that day and it took three weeks to film the first 10 minutes of the film. This is how me and Russell became friends on Gladiator. We have been friends for years.

"I have been to Australia, invited by him. He has invited me to Istanbul to perform as an actor in his first directorial debut called The Water Diviner. I was on Robin Hood with Russell. I've been in four movies by Ridley Scott. He knows me well.

"I've not seen the new Gladiator yet. I will be going to see it when I can. I'm very humbled and excited at the prospect of actually being able to get the procedure done.

"If I'm able to get it done before Christmas it will be a very active and outdoorsy festive period. I'm a fit guy for my age. I ride bikes and horses. You've got to keep fit.