Episode 1 Real Rescues

Today a woman's life hangs in the balance after a motorcycle accident.

She's stopped breathing twice and she's going to need two operations

lying on the roadside before she can be airlifted to hospital.

We're going to do a procedure

just to release any pressure within the chest cavity.

Have you got morphine on you? Do you mind making up 10 and 10?

The remarkable sight that greets doctors in Accident and Emergency -

a screw so long it's gone through a man's shoe

and embedded deep into his foot.

I was screwing the floor down. Landed on top of a screw.

It just went straight through my foot.

Hello and welcome to Real Rescues.

Today we are at the South Central Ambulance Control Room.

The call takers here are dealing with

real-life 999 emergencies, from all over the South of England.

And when a report comes in of a major accident, like the one

we are about to see, the medics are called in by road and by air.

Natalie has a passion for motorbikes

and one sunny March afternoon she and some friends

are biking through the countryside to Stonehenge.

A freak accident leaves Natalie thrown from her bike

and unconscious.

She's hanging onto life by a thread

and she's going to need expert medical help at the roadside.

Critical care doctor Paul Rees is heading to a serious trauma

on a country road near Marlborough in Wiltshire.

So I've been called now by the ambulance desk,

the desk that operates our air ambulance.

The information is that a motorcycle has been involved in a road accident. We don't know any more than that.

Paul's been dispatched to the scene along with the air ambulance.

As he gets closer, a worrying update comes through.

We've had some more information,

the person's GCS is seven, so the Glasgow Coma Score, their conscious level has reduced.

So that indicates they've got quite a serious injury.

The crew are also saying they're cerebrally irritated.

This information tells Paul the motorcyclist's chances of survival could be limited.

There we go, there's the job.

Alongside the ambulance is the crashed bike.

Several metres away in the undergrowth is the critically-injured woman.

OK.

You do that and I'll draw some blood.

She's clearly pretty poorly.

Conscious levels down as we were told on the way here.

Natalie's groaning and struggling

is putting huge strain on her system,

dangerously increasing the pressure on her skull.

Air paramedics Vicky and Kirsty have already put her on oxygen

and given her intravenous pain relief.

NATALIE GROANS

Natalie already owes her life to Kevin who was

trained in the Army Medical Corps.

He was driving past and stopped.

Her body was badly twisted in there.

There was no reaction to either sound or pain from pinching her

to make sure she could feel. She was out.

It was at that point I realised that she had actually stopped breathing.

As soon as I cleared her airways and re-established an airway,

she started breathing again.

Which was quite a relief!

But she then started bleeding quite heavily

through her nose and mouth and it was very bright bubbly blood,

so it is an indication that there was some quite significant damage

done to her lung area.

And also she was also starting to fit from the head injury

that she had received coming through the hedge.

-Did you want a bag of the fluids up, Paul?

-Yes, please.

Now the battle is on to save Natalie from irreversible brain damage.

Paul is preparing the drugs to put her in a controlled coma.

This will reduce the brain's need for oxygen and stop it swelling more.

Meanwhile, Kirsty has the bougie, or hollow piece of tubing.

Paul will need to insert it into Natalie's windpipe.

A larger breathing tube will then be placed over it.

So just prepping all the drugs, really.

I'm about a minute away.

And anything up with the pupils at all

or are they behaving?

All the time Paul is asking if there are any signs that

Natalie's condition is deteriorating further.

That's it, hold my hand.

-Kevin continues to try to comfort Natalie.

-SHE GROANS

It's all right. Just hold my hand, darling.

My main role at that point was very much around helping control

and helping trying to relax her.

That's a good girl.

Natalie's agitation is typical of a brain injury.

Do you mind going down there and giving these two that line?

So that's the rest of the ketamine.

Paul is now ready to start the critical process of taking over Natalie's breathing,

a procedure that a team of eight would perform in hospital.

Natalie will be given a painkiller, then the anaesthetic.

-So which do you want first?

-So the big one.

So you want ketamine first?

-How many milligrams?

-All of it.

-Just a slow push?

-No, as a fast push.

Gently now.

-OK, ketamine going in now.

-Thanks.

-A fast push.

-Yep.

I'll just kink the tubing just in case it's all going back up the drip.

Good, that's it. And then the next one in straightaway. 150.

-That's in.

-Good. OK, open that drip for 30 seconds.

These drugs have effectively paralysed Natalie.

She can't breathe unaided.

Paul has just a few minutes now to get the breathing tube in place.

Bougie, please.

Mind your eyes.

OK, lovely. Just pop the tube on there.

Good, so we're in at 22.

The bougie can come out. Good.

Have you got a syringe there? Thanks.

Good. Lovely.

Everybody stay put. Kirsty, do you mind having a listen round for us?

So we've just popped a tube down to take control of her briefing.

She's not struggling or agitated.

We're checking its position. You are right?

Now Natalie is in a controlled coma.

Paul and the medical team need to prepare her

for the flight to hospital, but there's a serious problem.

Stethoscope.

You thought there were some crackles in the chest, did you?

Yeah, a little bit.

The sound tells Paul air is trapped between the lungs and the chest wall.

And you've decompressed this side already, yeah?

Yeah, there was no movement on that side.

Examining her now we've found evidence of a chest injury on the right-hand side.

So our plan before we fly her is we'll make that stable by making a hole in the chest wall.

I'll do that now. It releases any blood or trapped air.

If she's flown like this, her lungs could collapse.

Paul is going to have to perform a second operation here on the roadside.

We'll see Paul carrying out that procedure later in the programme.

Now we've all seen our television - parents, friends, relatives -

all panicking, making a call because a baby is on the way.

Now, the call takers in this room have helped to deliver 56 babies between them.

But the top stork is this man, Anthony.

You've only been here 12 months, right?

And how many babies have you helped to deliver?

-About 20.

-20?! That's an amazing amount.

-Did they all call you?

-Yes.

-Feels like it.

-Now tell me, what sort of state are the parents?

Is it normally the person on the phone that's panicky or the mum?

It's a bit of both.

You have to gauge the situation to work out how we're

going to do and deal with the situation, depending at what stage labour is at as well.

Yeah. Most difficult procedure you've ever had to deal with?

I think most of them had their own complications anyway.

But the most difficult would be where the mother who was in labour

wouldn't allow anyone in the room,

which presented an added complication.

-They wouldn't let the dad into the room?

-No.

-She was screaming messages through the door?

-Basically.

We were trying to converse through the door. Luckily we were able to negotiate to get the phone

actually into the room. And the caller got her neighbour to come into the room

-and we were able to effect a nice and safe delivery.

-My goodness!

Do they send you photographs and card saying thank you?

-Unfortunately, no.

-Oh.

-My wall would be full if I did.

-So you've never seen the kids?

-No.

-Have you got children of your own?

-I do indeed, a six-year-old boy.

-You were at the birth?

-I was indeed.

-A very special moment.

-You didn't have to make panicky calls?

-No, no.

-It was all nice and easy, a safe delivery, thank you.

-Oh, fantastic.

-Top stork, does that give you extra stripes around here?

-Hopefully, yes.

-Anthony, thanks very much indeed.

-You're welcome. Thank you very much.

That would be nice.

The human foot is one of the most complex

and sensitive parts of the body,

full of nerve endings and small bones.

In this next 999 call, a man is in unbearable pain after he lands

on a screw which has gone through his shoe and the sole of his foot.

Here he is. Here is the man who had the screw in his foot.

It was clearly hurting at that point, Martin, wasn't it?

Rewind a bit if you can before that phone call. What had you been doing?

-I was building floors as normal.

-You were doing what?

Building floors for caravans. I was screwing the floor down.

And afterwards I jumped off the chassis, one of the screws that was on the strip was still in there.

As I jumped down, it went through my trainer and into my foot.

Clearly, not very nice. When did it start hurting?

Well it sort of went in, I said to my mate,

"A screw's gone through my foot. I went to touch it and then that was it. Pain.

-So until that point it wasn't hurting?

-It wasn't, no.

Until I moved my foot and tried to touch it.

OK. Well we heard that 999 call.

You went to hospital. Let's see what happened when you got there.

The team at Poole A&E are used to seeing unusual injuries.

This one is particularly painful.

The 2.5 inch screw is deeply embedded.

I have just... HE SIGHS HEAVILY

Unbelievably painful.

So that is the side view of his foot. All this here is his shoe.

As you can see, it goes in but misses the bone.

So through all the soft tissue.

As well as a risk of infection, there's a chance it could

damage the complex tendon structure in Martin's foot.

The most tricky thing is that the end of it is square,

unlike a normal screw.

So we'll need the specialist equipment to take it out.

Luckily, he's brought something in with him, but whether we can use this or not is difficult

because we need to make it sterile to be in the operating theatre.

While the medics decide the best plan of action,

Martin is taking all the pain relief he can get.

Gas and air, combined with morphine, are taking the edge off.

-How's that pain at the moment?

-Still throbbing.

OK, we'll get you something else.

-Did the ambulance crew give you anything?

-Morphine.

-They gave me a load of that.

-And did it have any effect?

-Or do you want some more?

-Er, I'll have some more if I can.

Of course you can.

One thing's for sure, Martin's trainers are good for nothing.

I didn't think my £60 pair of trainers were going to get cut up either.

Hello, Martin.

So we've had a look at your X-rays and it does go, as we expected,

through into your foot fairly far, but not through any of the bones.

What we need to do is take it out. We're not going to do that here.

We'll take you to theatre, have a general anaesthetic.

One of the orthopaedic team will do that and they'll wash it out

and clean it the same time. All right?

Martin's been very lucky.

Although the screw's deeply embedded, it has missed his bone.

Staff nurse Lisa Neville prepares Martin for surgery.

-If I use your tummy is a table, is that all right?

-Yeah.

Martin knows the drill. He's no stranger to A&E.

-Are you OK with needles?

-I just do not like doing this.

I know, it is not nice, is it?

-Have you had to have blood taken a lot, then?

-No. I seem to hurt myself a lot.

-A little bit accident-prone?

-Yeah, very.

Very soon he'll be pain free and detached from the soul of his shoe.

Oh, Martin, you were very calm during all of that.

Did you feel calm at the time?

Well, no. It was just really painful. But the morphine was good.

Yes, I bet! So the question was how do you get a screw out of a foot?

We have the man who was in charge of all those people there working with you.

Consultant in emergency medicine, Simon Bell.

Where do you start with that?

He was given a general anaesthetic, wasn't he? And then what you do?

The first thing you have to do is remove the screw.

-You have to unscrew it.

-You have to unscrew it.

You physically could just pull it out.

But because of the grooves within the screw itself,

that would cause so much damage to the soft tissue and the tendons

and the fascia, the risk of infection would be

so much higher, the rate of healing would be so much slower.

And it looks a bit strange when you see the pictures, actually,

but that's the right thing to do.

-Yes.

-OK, and what about the risk of infection?

-It's presumably quite high, is it?

-It is quite high.

And once the screw is out there's quite a lot of intense

cleaning around the wound.

It's like when you cut yourself anywhere, the most important

thing to stop yourself from getting an infection is to clean the wound.

So, for example, if you cut your hand in the kitchen, the most important thing is wash your hand.

And that's what is going to stop you getting MRSA and tetanus far more than antibiotics.

The thing that shocked me, having seen that X-Ray - breathtaking when you look at it -

is how close it was to your bone.

If it had gone into the bone, the risk of infection would have been very much higher.

OK, and your trainers, you never got those ones back, did you?

-No, I had to go and buy another pair.

-Another 60 quid?

-Yeah.

I know you've got a sense of humour, Martin, so I'm going to give you that as a present.

It's not quite as bad as the other one, is it? Is that better or worse?

-Probably better.

-Shall I give you that?

-And how's the scar, is that OK?

-Yeah, it's all good.

-Not as bad as I thought it was going to be, anyway.

-And back at work?

Yeah, back at work. Playing football and everything else. So it's great.

Best of luck. I hope it never happens again.

-Yeah, I hope so as well.

-Thank you. Thank you, Simon.

-Thank you.

Still to come on Real Rescues - something very strange

going on in Sue's chimney.

It's steaming hot.

But does she need a sweep or a firefighter?

I don't know what made me suddenly feel the wall.

I felt it was very hot in here.

And when I touched the wall it was so incredibly hot.

And he's far from home and alone on a bus. Ben's had a seizure.

He's confused and may have another fit.

Ben? Do you know what's happened to you?

We've been following the treatment of Natalie who was seriously injured after a motorcycle accident.

She has severe head trauma, and critical care doctor Paul Rees

has put her into a controlled coma.

Now he's preparing to operate again on the roadside.

A highly-trained trauma team are working to save motorcyclist Natalie's life.

Basics-trained Dr Paul Rees has already put her in a controlled coma.

Now he has to perform another operation before it's safe for her to be flown to hospital.

They've heard abnormal sounds which suggest there is air

trapped between her lungs and chest wall.

If she flies, both lungs could collapse, putting her life at risk.

So we'll do a procedure now to release any pressure within the chest cavity,

so open the side of the chest.

My colleagues have already put a needle in to release some pressure.

But before we fly we'd rather have a slightly bigger hole there, so I'm going to make that now.

Keep your hand on that.

Thanks very much. That's great.

OK...

Have you got morphine on you? Do you mind making up 10 and 10 for us and we will give her that as well?

Paul makes the first incision to release the pressure inside.

-7.1 on the...

-A bit more ventilation then.

Just a little bit quicker.

So we should hear a hiss if there's anything left in here.

There we go, look. See that coming out?

-Ah. Yep.

-So that's confirmed she's got a pneumothorax on that side.

So, well done. Good call.

Paul has discovered that one lung has already collapsed.

He needs to make the opening larger to make sure there is no pressure

-on Natalie's other lung.

-There we are.

I can feel the lung. She's basically stable now.

We've got control of her, given her an anaesthetic, taken control of her breathing.

Identified some life-threatening injuries in her chest.

The paramedics have stabilised her.

In addition, we've opened up a small window into the chest cavity to release any pressure and blood.

There was a lot of air trapped there. It's now more stable now.

They can take to hospital, get her scanned and see what's going on in her head.

The police have cordoned off the road

and have been interviewing witnesses.

The accident happened on a bend.

Natalie came off before the bike slowed.

There is no suggestion from the witnesses at this stage

that excessive high speed is a factor.

The speed was around about the speed limit.

But no suggestion that that speed has dropped off.

-OK.

-Are you good to go?

-Yeah, I'm good to go, yeah. We're happy here.

We are in the middle of nowhere here. The nearest hospitals aren't multi-specialty hospitals.

So we're going to take her to the unit that has

head and chest specialists to better treat her injuries.

Paul will travel with Natalie,

monitoring her condition throughout the short flight.

Are you happy you've got everything?

Yeah, 30 seconds, I'll be hot to trot.

The neurological unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital are on stand by,

awaiting Natalie's arrival.

I'm delighted to say we have been joined

by two of the heroes of that rescue team, Paul Rees and Kevin Watts.

Welcome, gentlemen. It was a real team effort, I have to say.

Everybody helping out.

But just put in perspective for everyone at home,

how lucky that girl was that you were in the area.

-Because you don't normally go on that route, Kevin.

-I don't, no.

We'd been stopping at friends in Wiltshire

and we'd just been returning home,

via the kennels to collect the dog.

Normally we'd have gone down the motorway.

But it was such a nice day, we decided to go down the country roads

-which put us through Marlborough and down that bypass.

-And that's not your normal area either.

Normally in Hampshire. We happened to be at an incident on the A34.

The helicopter desk heard the incident and asked us to go

and have a look in case we were needed.

-As it turns out we were.

-Very, very lucky. And lucky you got to her so quickly.

When you saw her lying there,

most of the people at home are told, don't touch the body,

don't move her because you might cause more injuries.

-But obviously you had no other choice.

-No, that's correct.

Because Natalie had stopped breathing,

the moving of her took priority.

You have to keep her alive. You took the helmet off, made sure her breathing was OK.

-Indeed.

-You did a great job.

-Absolutely key what he did.

Without him doing that, I think we would have had a very different outcome here.

Paul, you were on the scene very quickly.

You had a team there helping you.

It was a real team effort and you needed so much help.

You know, all the help here is appreciated.

We had an ambulance crew on scene who'd called for helicopter backup.

So we had a lot of our resources deployed there.

But a big team effort.

And controlling that situation, getting her stable for hospital took a lot of activity.

-You must have seen a lot of accidents?

-Yes.

And a lot of very poorly people.

-Absolutely.

-I mean, how serious were Natalie's injuries?

These were life-threatening injuries.

Even if we were able to get her so she could survive the accident,

there was no guarantee that she'd survive it

with a decent quality of life.

-So certainly potentially life-changing injuries.

-Have any of you seen her?

Yeah, I saw her before Christmas, actually.

I was coming home from work, it put me

past the stables that she works at

so I dropped her Christmas card in, rather than putting it in the post.

It was wonderful to see her. She looked so well.

-She made cup of tea for you?

-Oh, yes.

-A bit of a kiss, I hope.

-I think she did.

-You haven't seen her?

-Not at all, no.

We've got a treat for both of you because we will see Natalie

a little bit later on and you WILL be amazed to see how well she is.

Real fires, as opposed to electric or gas fires,

are more popular than ever.

They're better for the environment and they can save you money, but,

when they're not fitted properly, the whole house can be in danger.

SIREN WAILS

It's late on a cold, wintry Sunday.

Firefighters are heading out to an emergency call from a woman who

has reported one wall of the house is so hot, there must be a fire.

I don't know what made me suddenly feel the wall.

I felt it was very hot in here, and when I touched the wall,

it was so incredibly hot, I just didn't know what to do,

so I phoned my daughter, and she said to phone 999.

The crews are recording temperatures of nearly 70 degrees centigrade

in the wall above the wood-burning stove.

We've arrived to find the walls are extremely hot.

We've taken the temperature

in various positions on the wall

and we've had a look up into the roof space, again, it's very hot.

The stove has been fitted a number of years ago,

but I don't think it's been fitted correctly, to be honest.

Outside, there are no signs of a fire in the chimney.

There's only one way to find out what's going on.

Sean and his team need to remove the stove and look up the chimney.

If we can get that asbestos string out...

-It's loose.

-Loose?

-That is scary.

-That's your fire stop.

That is scary.

-It's not even secured.

-The flue doesn't even go through the plate.

This was just sat on top of the hood of the stove.

Basically, this is the barrier between the chimney and the stove. That was it.

So the flue doesn't run from the stove up into the chimney.

There's no flue attached to that fire. That fire is just sat in there.

Which I think is quite dangerous, really.

Heat generated from a wood-burner can reach temperatures of 350 degrees centigrade.

To protect the structure of the house from this heat,

the chimney needs a flue or a liner for insulation.

In Sue's house,

the intensely hot air is billowing up an unprotected chimney.

See that centre spigot?

From a fire-fighting perspective, it's quite an interesting job.

Obviously, not so good for the lady, the occupier of the house.

But it's like being a detective, working out how the stove was fitted

and the best way to take the stove out,

-causing the least amount of damage.

-Mind your heads.

That's not too heavy, actually.

Take that outside as well.

-All right?

-Yep.

See what we can bring down, yeah.

Now the stove is out,

the firefighters can get a good look inside the chimney.

-What was the temperature on the wall?

-It was 60.

You've got a flue up to about that height, then it goes off,

so you've got a cylindrical flue, then it just opens up

and you can't see above that flue.

The part liner that goes out into an open chimney is full of soot,

so we've got to try and get that out and cool the wall.

Once we know the temperature is cooling, then we'll be happy.

The heat sensor is still detecting high temperatures on the wall

and inside. It's now clear Sue's stove wasn't properly fitted.

She's had a lucky escape.

You think that they put the things in correctly

because that's what they do.

We'll certainly make sure we get somebody who does it properly the next time!

I'm just thankful that they managed to get the stove out

and we're still here.

But the firefighters can't leave

until they're sure there's no chance of a fire.

And that could mean a lot of mess.

We're going to use the stirrup pump and the hose

and cool the chimney to make sure nothing is alight at the chimney.

Obviously, we try to do our best to limit damage.

We've taken the mantelpiece out, we've taken the stove out -

that will go back in quite easily...

Although it looks like a lot of damage, it's not.

You'll probably have this sorted within a day.

Very gradually, a hose is inserted up the chimney

and water is pumped out gently, dousing and cooling the hotspots.

Sue wasn't expecting her Sunday to end like this - her fireplace

is in pieces, her front room unrecognisable

and now she's facing the big clear-up alone.

My husband always manages not to be in England

when anything drastic happens.

He's in America, blissfully unaware,

at the moment.

SHE LAUGHS

It was 68, the hottest.

The temperature has dropped from the high 60s to the mid-40s degrees centigrade.

I think that's definitely cooler than it was.

I think we're nearly finished.

But Sue had only just started with the people who fitted her stove.

You need to reinstate your stove and it needs to be reinstated properly.

-Yes.

-In compliance with building regulations, because something like that has to be fitted

in compliance with building regulations.

-One would have thought that was what it was the first time.

-Yes.

I haven't seen a stove...

I've been to a lot of chimney fires in my career,

and quite a few involving wood-burning stoves.

I've never seen one fitted like that. Bit concerning.

Sue's front room is getting back to normal

and the boys are even clearing up the masonry dust.

We don't like making a mess and we don't like to damage things.

It's professional pride, really. There you go.

Well, it could have been serious and thankfully, they've been brilliant.

Yes. Very pleased...

that I called them.

Well, I've got somebody here who's dealt with a few chimney fires in his time.

Wood-burning stoves are a great way of heating your house,

but actually potentially quite dangerous?

They can be, if they haven't been properly installed, or you're burning

the wrong kind of fuel,

or wood that hasn't been seasoned, so it's still wet.

OK, so you've got an example of what you should have here. What's this?

That a chimney liner.

Basically, your wood-burning stove would be bolted to the bottom of that on a short flue.

This goes up the chimney, right the way to the top to the chimney pot

and then have non-combustible material similar to that.

That surrounds it, so all the heat is contained within the chimney.

It keeps the chimney sealed and a) prevents any gases seeping

-through cracks into rooms within your house...

-Which is very dangerous.

Obviously, because it's poisonous and combustible, and also, if you've got a chimney flue,

it makes the wood burner work more efficiently and effectively.

Lots of reasons to have it, but mostly, safety.

With a normal fire, if you haven't got a wood-burner,

it's OK to not have one of these in your chimney?

No, if you're using a fireplace you haven't used before,

or you're opening up an old fireplace or installing any kind of fire,

the very first thing you need to do is get a qualified

or competent chimney sweep to inspect the chimney and sweep it.

You don't know what's up there or how long it's been up there.

-Anything that is up there is probably combustible.

-OK.

And you've also been to a chimney fire in August - what was going on?

Went to one a few years ago in August, chap decided that he had some stuff in his garden

he wanted burning, including an old Christmas tree,

and he started burning bits of palette and all kinds in his normal fireplace.

The chimney hadn't been swept for quite some time

and there was a fire within the chimney flue itself.

-Lots of lessons to be learned there.

-Absolutely.

-Tim, thank you.

-Thank you.

An epileptic fit can hit at any time, often without warning

and for Ben, it happened far away from home, surrounded by strangers.

SIRENS WAIL

It's morning rush-hour in Southampton.

Rapid response paramedic Andy Rudge is pushing through traffic

to an 18-year-old student who's fallen ill on a university bus.

-So how long did this last for?

-It was at least a minute.

Ben, take a seat in there. Ben?

My name's Andy, I'm one of the paramedics.

That's it, you sit yourself down, buddy, and then we can...

sort you out.

Ben has suffered a fit and is feeling very disorientated.

-Ben?

-Yep.

-Do you know what's happened to you?

Do you suffer with epilepsy? You do. OK.

Andy goes through his regular checks,

including testing his blood sugar levels.

I just need to scratch your finger. Just test your blood, all right?

A low reading could affect his recovery.

The bus needs to get on its way so Andy takes Ben down to his car,

where he can carry out the rest of his observations.

Before giving Ben oxygen,

Andy needs to check he hasn't bitten his mouth during the fit.

Open your mouth nice and wide.

Just pop this over your face, all right?

Ben's fit was severe.

There is a possibility he could go into another seizure.

I think you did bite your tongue, and obviously,

I'm going to guess you've probably had your mouth on your sleeve.

It might be easier to slide your arm out. Just slide this arm out...

Andy is fitting a cannula so that he can treat Ben with drugs

if his condition worsens.

You're going to feel a scratch, all right?

All done. Starting to feel better all the time?

-So what are you studying, then? Science?

-Computer science.

What year is this for you, your first year?

Ben lives in halls of residence.

There's no-one to take care of him there full-time,

so he'll need to go to hospital for observation.

-Andy calls for a backup crew.

-Do we have any backup, Heather?

'You can do, if you require it.'

Yes, we're in a public place, so...

Yes, please.

-'About five minutes.'

-Yeah, Roger.

So do you have any sensation or aura that you're going to have a seizure?

Any taste, smell, tingle?

-No? You just... tend to go into a seizure.

-Yeah.

-Ben's got a headache and needs time to recover.

-Morning.

-Hello, are you all right?

-Very well. You?

-Good, thank you.

-Young Ben...

-Travelling on a bus...

-Adam's attending.

Oh, sorry, Adam. ..went into seizure for about a minute.

Self resolved. Known history of epilepsy.

When I turned up, typical postictal.

Last seizure was about November.

Ben, what we'll do is, there's an ambulance behind you.

We'll just take a gentle stroll.

Ben will be taken to Southampton General Hospital

where they'll monitor him until he's fully recovered.

If you'd said Eastleigh and Mum was at home, I'd run you there.

Ben, do you want to swing your legs out?

-Studying computer science.

-Oh, right. Fantastic.

Sometime back on Real Rescues we met Emma Holloway,

a call-taker here at South Central Ambulance,

when she took a chilling 999 call from the mother of a young baby.

Wow, what a call!

Emma, your calm instructions helped the parents to get

their baby breathing again, which is absolutely amazing in itself.

The scary thing for you is you've been here

when you've had a call from your house.

Yes, I was on dispatch as a dispatch assistant.

My colleague had gone out for a break.

My phone number dropped in on the screen

and I instantly recognised the phone number.

-You knew that something was going on...

-I knew what was going on.

..with your daughter Katie Ann because she has epilepsy.

I knew straightaway what was going on and I had to get an ambulance to her.

You didn't go home, you made sure you finished your job?

I made sure there was an ambulance on the way before running out of the room.

Come in, Katie Ann, come and see Mummy.

Here she is.

Katie Ann, can you show us your special bracelet that you've got?

Now she has a special bracelet, doesn't she?

If anything happens when you're not there, this is a MedicAlert.

Very precious, I know Katie.

That's got very crucial information on it.

Yes, it's got her name, date of birth, any allergies and emergency contact phone numbers.

Just in case she is out playing with her brothers and sisters.

Amazingly both of you actually work in and around here in emergency care.

Your husband took the call when she had her first fit.

Yes, I called 999, came off the phone to deal with Katie

but also in the meantime was trying to ring him to let him know

what was happening but unfortunately I wasn't able to get hold of him

before control did, and he got the job.

He must've been terrified when he got that job.

-I would have thought so, yes.

-What happens to her?

What do you do when you are trying to deal with it?

She has seizures and my work head switches on.

It's really surprising that you don't panic until after the event.

You just have to stay strong and get through it for her sake.

I know you've been here for ages, Katie Ann, shall I let you go?

Off you go. Thank you very much for coming to see us.

-I hope you don't have to make too many of those calls.

-So do I! Thank you.

We've seen today the incredible rescue of Natalie Everall

after a motorcycle accident.

She was in pretty bad shape but she looks great now.

She sits there with a big smile on her face. How are you feeling?

-Yes, really good, thank you.

-You look great.

I don't really want to do this now, but let's remind ourselves

-of the state you were in and the fantastic job the rescue team did.

-OK.

SHE MOANS

It's all right, just hold my hand, darling.

-Ketamine first.

-How many milligrams?

-All of it.

-Just a slow push?

-It's a fast push.

It's a fast push.

Good. Lovely. Stethoscope.

-You thought there were some crackles in the chest, did you?

-Sounded...yeah.

We're doing a little procedure now to release any pressure in the chest cavity.

We'll open the side of the chest. Have you got morphine on you?

Could you make up 10 and 10 and give her that as well?

We should hear a hiss if there's anything left in here.

-Can you see that coming out?

-Yep.

That's confirmed she's got pneumothorax on that side.

So, well done. Good call.

Everybody at home wouldn't have heard her talk about

what actually happened to you there while you were watching the film, you said you were a big wimp!

-Screaming and shouting.

-Yeah, I don't like that bit, no.

Do you want me to remind you of the injuries that you had?

If you want to, yeah.

OK, broken eye socket, broken nose, jaw, wrist, hip,

had a collapsed lung and suffered a brain haemorrhage.

Still call yourself a bit of a wimp, moaning?

Well, yeah, because I was moaning.

They were doing their best to save my life.

I don't like the fact that I was making trouble for them, you know?

Oh! Well, I admire your courage but I think I think I might have

screamed and cried a little bit myself if I had those sort of injuries.

-Can you remember that?

-No.

-How do you feel watching that?

No, I can't remember any of it. It's odd watching it. It's a bit...

It's me, I know it's me, but it doesn't remind me of me

because obviously I've got no memory from the middle of January last year.

-But the accident happened in March?

-Yes, I don't remember anything.

Were you in a coma, obviously got back to the hospital by helicopter,

-for three weeks.

-Yes.

So you don't remember, obviously that period or the period before then?

-No.

-Gosh, that must be terrible.

It's odd because I don't know who I was or what was going on in my life at the time.

But you are, I'm looking at you now and you look fit and well and you're working.

-Yes.

-Just remind everybody at home you do as a job.

I'm a head lass for a racing yard.

I've got to say, getting back from those serious injuries,

messing around with horses, working with horses,

is probably the last thing you should be doing, isn't it?

I don't know. Probably. But, you've got to do what you love.

-And I love it.

-Has it helped you?

Yes, very much so.

-Have the horses helped you?

-Yes, they have made me... they have got me better.

And I don't know how but they've got a sixth sense of how I am

and they don't push me around as much as they normally would do.

It's weird. I can't explain what it's like, it's just very, very odd.

Not only am I in shock but your boss, Mick Channon,

-he's the trainer at your stables, isn't he?

-Yes, yes.

The former England international,

and he is absolutely amazed that this one is back on a horse.

She's a good horsewoman and she's pretty stubborn

and she knows what she wants to do.

She's got a great, positive attitude towards life

and I think that that's a massive plus to her recovery.

She's been positive, she's wanted to get out,

she's wanted to be normal again, let's put it that way.

Get back into the swing of things and she's done it fantastically.

Having heard the details of what she went through,

you know, I thought 50-1 that she'd ever really get back on a horse

and it would be at least a year or so until she could come back

to full work but she proved everyone wrong.

So life is back to normal? Everything, no side effects?

-No sense of smell.

-Sense of smell?

Yes, so obviously my taste is down the drains,

which is annoying because I love cooking!

People like me cooking for them and I'm like, "I'm sorry if I haven't put enough salt in it."

Flavours I can't taste so...

-Well, working in stables I think the sense of smell isn't a bad thing.

-Might be a bonus!

-Let me introduce you to, I don't know whether you remember them.

-No.

-These two.

-No.

-Of course you do!

-Hello.

This is Paul, who was in that lovely orange vest doing emergency work to you.

-And Kevin, who I think you saw at Christmas.

-Yes. I did, yes.

I don't know what you want to say to them. I should just leave.

-How do you feel about seeing these guys?

-It's amazing.

I can't thank them...

I can't thank these guys and everybody who came to the scene

and the hospital staff, enough.

And my friends and family, you all saved my life

and I don't know how you can repay that.

There's no words you can put to say thank you.

There isn't enough you can do, or physically...

Physically think about that makes you realise what they've done.

Can you believe that here she is, sitting here and still riding horses?

It's a brilliant result, isn't it?

This is when you put the right team and the right kit at the scene,

this is the outcome you can get so you're living proof that

when it all works well, it can achieve a brilliant outcome.

And I've just got to say to you, Kevin,

thank goodness you went the country route.

I'm very pleased as well because it's well worth...

She's a lovely person and I'm really pleased to see her back on horses and enjoying life.

Well, it's great to see you two. Thank you very much,

and I tell you what, it's even better to see you,

sitting there, fit and well. Louise!

What an amazing story, I want to see the scars, Natalie, what have you got?

After all these injuries, that - which is nothing.

And my chest drain. Thanks to this man, here.

It's a good thing though, isn't it? Could he have done a better job, if he was thinking about it?

Well, considering the situation, I think I'll have to let him off.

-On this occasion only!

-Exactly, yes.

-Lovely to meet you. Well done.

That's it for Real Rescues. We'll see you next time, goodbye.

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