Episode 10 Helicopter Heroes

When you're with someone that's critically ill or seriously injured,

every minute can feel like an hour,

which is why a helicopter like this can be one of the most beautiful sights in the world.

This is the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and their business is saving lives.

From the Dales to the big cities of Leeds and Sheffield, patients in the UK's biggest county

are never more than 10 minutes from a hospital thanks to this 150mph lifesaver.

Every day brings a new life or death emergency for the flying paramedics.

Two helicopters, four paramedics, five million patients.

Today on Helicopter Heroes...

There's a major crash and the flying doctor is forced to perform surgery at the roadside.

An injured pensioner has lain all night in the open air,

but can she survive severe hypothermia?

The 12-year-old boy whose dad owes him his life.

Toby organised everything.

And smiling through the pain - a Pennine rambler decides laughter is the best medicine.

OK, I'm relaxing.

Yorkshire's flying paramedics deal with some of the worst injuries a medical team can come across.

They often tackle in the open air cases that would challenge the staff of a fully-equipped casualty unit.

The trouble is they rarely know what they'll have to deal with before they get there.

-Road traffic accident?

-Yeah, road traffic. Someone's trapped.

Even when they take off, they have little more than a map reference and a few details from a witness.

But some locations always mean a serious injury.

They're heading to a notorious junction on the main road from York to Hull.

Paramedic Lee Davison has been there before.

Many years ago, there was a massive bus crash on this junction. A kids' school bus. Major incident.

Quite a few seriously injured.

Then they get an update on the satellite phone.

There are three casualties confirmed

-with serious injuries. We know now what we're going to.

-It's yet another serious accident.

Two cars, head on, with three people injured.

We're told they've got serious injuries. You think, "Will we need to anaesthetise the patient?

"Have we got strong painkillers? Morphine?"

Heavy rain has brought flooding to the Vale of York. Bad news for Heli Med 99.

The helicopter weighs three tons and can get stuck on wet ground.

OK, looks like it's underneath now from what we can see.

There's a nice field there with a gate open.

-Like a paddy field, isn't it?

-Yeah.

A land ambulance crew are treating the driver of this Ford Focus. He's a tourist from Ireland.

He's conscious and talking. His side of the car has taken all the impact.

A team of firemen are trying to get him out.

In the other car, an elderly couple are also trapped. The 70-year-old driver is in a critical condition.

Got a left humeral fracture. The humerus.

We're just going to extricate this gentleman. The doctor is looking after him at the moment.

-We'll extricate him as quick as we can.

-There are three patients, but only one can go in Heli Med 99.

-Lee has the answer.

-The RAF will back us up with a Sea King helicopter for the next patient.

The team are working flat out. Dr Andy has an update on their patient - more broken bones.

Femur's gone. And his pelvis. So we need some fracture splints.

Former soldier Charles Smith and his wife Eleanor were returning home from a shopping trip

when he suffered a sudden seizure.

Now they're both trapped in their wrecked Nissan. Charles is seriously hurt,

with multiple injuries, but Eleanor urgently needs treatment, too.

-Got any morphine in there, Lee?

-It's in my pocket here. Do you want it?

-OK, mate, you're doing fine.

While Lee and Dr Andy get pain relief into their patient,

paramedic Tony and pilot Steve have another problem to sort out.

-Where can we go?

-I'll just go to that bit there.

Heli Med 99 is sinking in the boggy field and it needs to be moved before it gets stuck.

It's a short hop over the hedge, but with lorries and buses parked next to your landing pad,

it's going to be a tight squeeze.

Tony has to marshal Steve in.

And he's down on more solid ground.

We've relocated our aircraft here. It was too boggy where we was.

There's an RAF Sea King on its way. That'll take 10-15 minutes.

I'll take him into that field and then we have two helicopters.

Amazingly, the driver's wife has escaped serious injury.

She will be going in the Sea King.

-Have we got a line in?

-But their 65-year-old patient is in a critical condition.

This chap's got serious injuries. His thigh bone is definitely broken.

Maybe his pelvis, his chest is caved in on the right. He's probably losing blood pressure.

We don't want to manhandle him.

Pass us that seatbelt...

Got it.

The problem is to get him out. It's mangled around him. We're struggling with that at the moment.

-We need him out quickly.

-The driver's age is against him. His life is in real danger,

but removing him too quickly could be just as dangerous as delaying his release.

Coming up: the medics are overwhelmed with casualties and Charles is worsening.

-OK, OK!

-Is it your chest hurting?

A tree surgeon's fallen 20 feet and his spine could be shattered.

What's this pain now?

And I'll be meeting the ramblers whose stroll ended in a rescue operation 1,000 feet up.

I don't want an injection, no.

The air ambulance covers nearly three miles a minute and speed saves lives,

but you can't hurry safety and the crew know that lives depend on knowing their jobs inside out.

You can't get much further away from it all than the Derbyshire Peak District. Hills are rocky and steep,

the valleys deep and dark. It's beautiful, but the narrow winding roads can be dangerous.

Heli Med 99 is responding to reports of an accident near the village of Hathersage.

Details are sketchy, but paramedics Darren and Tony know it's serious.

We're heading for a location just southwest of Sheffield.

We've got limited information. There's been a road traffic collision

where a person has been ejected from the vehicle.

Potential for serious trauma from that scant information.

Setting off from Leeds Bradford Airport, they're 18 minutes away.

Every minute has to count because this job is about to become far more serious.

It's here. Hathersage railway station.

-Yeah, got that.

-He has been ejected from the car, but they think it was last night.

He's just been found?

This job is suddenly more urgent. 66-year-old Margaret Rotherham has been lying in the cold all night

after jumping out of her car as it crashed off the road. She has severe hypothermia,

-and needs hospital care fast, but first the crew have to find her.

-You just can't see anything.

There's quite good vision, really.

Ahh, there's a police car on the road down there.

There's an ambulance there.

They've got her, but there's a problem.

The ground is sloping. It's going to be incredibly difficult for pilot Steve to land.

There wasn't any flat ground anywhere. Everything had a slope.

Lots and lots of trees, lots of outbuildings. An inordinate amount of wires.

You can't actually see the gradient of what you're approaching, the severity of it,

until you're 20 feet from the ground.

Look how sloping it is down there. No chance there.

-Coming up the hill there's a pumping house.

-Yeah.

-What about the field with the sheep?

-Just below now, where that tree is? Is that the pumping house?

-Yeah, coming towards us.

-The wind is gusting and changing direction.

Steve doesn't know where it's going to come from next.

There's nowt on my side, mate. Just an iron gate.

Flying an air ambulance is all about assessing the risks. Steve has to land, but has to be cautious.

-They're no use to Margaret if they crash.

-You're two foot off the ground.

-Let's not do that.

The slope is so steep, Steve can only get one helicopter skid down on the ground.

Tony has no choice. He has to lean outside for a closer look.

No, Steve...

We're knackered there, aren't we? Let's have another look up there.

This landing site is too risky. The team have to find somewhere else.

Does that look flat down there?

we've scared the sheep again.

The air ambulance pilots always try to avoid scaring animals, but today Steve has no option.

Tony's spotted a flatter patch of grass and he has to go for it.

That's it.

We're clear of the dyke. Down left.

'Our chief pilot, Steve, has got over 4,000 hours'

of stick time in helicopters. That is a massive amount of experience.

Any private pilot looking to get a helicopter licence will know how long it takes

'to accrue that flying experience.

'I'm confident in the pilots we have, and I'm sure any other air ambulance in the UK is the same.'

-Hiya, lads.

-Tony has finally reached Margaret and she's in a bad way.

Last night she came over this cliff in her car, ejected herself out of the driver's seat

landing just up there, face down.

It's incredible that Margaret has survived, but the delay in landing has already cost valuable time.

Now getting her to hospital is even more urgent.

Coming up: Margaret's survived 12 hours in the open air, but is a long way from hospital.

Will she make it?

The RAF are called in to help out at the scene of a major road smash.

We've got two helicopters now.

And Mountain Rescue lose their grip as the team come to the aid of an injured walker.

I only had to move to there.

Not many people ever expect to ride in an ambulance, especially one that flies,

until an accident or sudden illness makes you the subject of a 999 call.

Today that day came for one unlucky patient.

Yorkshire is one of the UK's greenest counties.

Woodland covers more than 10,000 acres of its countryside,

which is a great thing unless you're trying to land an air ambulance.

Forestry is a major industry here and accidents are inevitable with heavy machinery and heavier trees.

Today the crew of Heli Med 99 are scrambling to York

where tree surgeon Stephen Hartwell has slipped and fallen 20 feet while trimming branches.

The caller seemed quite distressed and it seems quite serious.

We've got a doctor on today, so if the patient's got some injuries requiring interventions

we've got a doctor on and we can do them.

As Heli Med 99 approaches the farm, Lee finds himself in a friendly race with the ground ambulance

from his own station in Harrogate.

Ambulance is just coming across the road.

The helicopter is rarely sent to emergencies on its own.

Vehicles often arrive first to start treatment on patients

who then journey to hospital by air.

Stephen's in a bad way. He's in pain from a back injury sustained when he hit the ground.

He was trimming the tree when the accident happened.

Luckily, his son Toby saw his fall and called for help.

-1 to 10, what's this pain now?

-10.

-It's 10, is it?

Stephen was fortunate. He usually works alone.

If Toby hadn't called for help, he could still be lying here waiting.

I'll just give you something for pain. You might feel a bit funny.

Killing pain is one thing, but Stephen could have serious internal injuries

that are difficult to diagnose before he reaches hospital.

-The doctor is optimistic.

-We're quite a way from hospital.

We've elected to fly him in. It should be a nice journey for him.

-He seems fairly stable.

-If Stephen's spine is damaged, it could be made worse by bumpy roads.

Instead, they'll fly him directly to hospital in nearby Harrogate.

Steve, your t-shirt is history.

It takes just five minutes from accident scene to hospital.

Only a full examination will tell if he's escaped serious injury or if his days as a tree surgeon are over.

Four weeks later, Stephen knows what the future holds

and it involves three months off work while his spine heals.

The doctors told me I'll be an inch smaller. I'm only 5'8" to start!

I'll finish up being 5'7".

I broke and fractured the spine halfway down.

And at the base of the spine it's all crushed downwards.

I've never felt pain like it. I'm just glad my little boy was there to phone...

..the ambulance and my wife to come.

Toby organised everything. I was writhing about in agony.

Not only does Stephen's son know what to do in a crisis,

he's helping out with the cooking while Dad's laid up and only able to walk in a full body brace.

I was thinking he might have broken his back. I know that is serious.

And I knew the tree was quite high.

So I knew he might have done some damage to his back.

That smells nice.

I didn't expect a helicopter to come. I just thought an ambulance would come.

Then a helicopter started circling the house.

Yeah, really proud of him. That's my boy.

Coming up: the motorist who survived a night in the open air, but a hospital bed is what she needs.

Exposure puts them in real jeopardy.

And the rambler whose cheerfulness astonished her rescuers.

If I go to Lancaster, push my phone down my front!

Rain, hail or high winds, the air ambulance crew will deal with all if they can get off the ground,

but sometimes saving lives means overcoming more than weather.

Two cars have had a head-on smash on the busy road between York and Hull.

There are three casualties, but only room for one in Heli Med 99.

The RAF will back us up with a Sea King helicopter for the next patient.

-Just relax.

-With the RAF on the way, paramedic Lee and Dr Andy begin work

on the most critically injured.

Slide this down in back of you.

Is that pain really bad? Andy, I want rid of this coat.

Is he tangled in it?

Just watch this arm. It's completely broken, smashed.

70-year-old Charles Smith has a broken shoulder, hip and pelvis and serious chest injuries,

but before they treat him they need to get him out of his car, but he is stuck.

He won't come out like that.

As well as all his other broken bones, Charles could have a serious back injury.

They need a rigid spinal board behind him before they move him,

but the impact of the crash has compacted the car and they're struggling.

Despite having been given morphine, Lee's elderly patient is in great pain.

OK, all right. OK.

Lee's found out that his patient has osteoporosis - brittle bones.

They must take extra care in moving him.

'He had multiple fractures - chest and pelvis, one of the major bones in his right leg, his arm,

'so it was very difficult for us to extricate him.'

What you don't want to do is make an injury worse than it already is.

Fractures sometimes are closed and haven't come through the skin,

but moving a patient incorrectly can bring that fracture and the bone through the skin,

with further risk of infection, which we don't want.

Can you take his head?

Whilst Lee and Dr Andy treat their patient,

paramedic Tony Wilkes has a different job to do.

The RAF Sea King helicopter is overhead and Tony must guide it in.

That's an add-on you wouldn't normally be expected to do.

We're trained in marshalling aircraft, choosing landing sites,

to be aware of potential hazards.

'We can reccy a potential landing site. We can often contact the pilot as he is inbound

'and explain any possible hazards that we can see, point out the wind direction to him

'and make sure he has as safe a landing as possible.'

Oh!

Finally, the firemen manage to prise the car apart,

to free up the driver's seat and very carefully they can get their patient out.

And down. Your wife's in the ambulance now. She's fine.

The helicopter will be a minute.

It's the first time the paramedics can fully assess his injuries.

-And there's a problem.

-All right, OK, OK!

Is it your chest that's hurting?

His lung has collapsed and he can't breathe properly.

Dr Andy Pountney will have to operate on him straight away.

Coming up: they've been together for a lifetime, but paramedics must split up an elderly couple

to save the husband's life.

Definitely a fractured femur.

Up in the Dales, there's a major rescue operation for a walker with a broken ankle.

No, I don't want an injection.

Let's catch up with the team up in the hills.

In the Peak District, 66-year-old Margaret Rotherham has severe hypothermia.

She's been out in the elements all night after crashing her car.

Heli Med 99 pilot Steve has battled wind and difficult terrain to land and get paramedics to the scene.

But the delayed landing means it's even more crucial to get Margaret warm fast.

It's not exactly clear what's happened, but it looks like she threw herself from the car

after careering off her own drive. On a night of freezing temperatures, she's lucky to be alive.

OK, we've got an elderly female.

She's cold. No other injuries apart from pain to her left wrist and right upper leg.

There's no time to waste. Margaret has to be moved immediately.

'Patients that have been suffering from exposure, at any age, are in real jeopardy.'

Any kind of drugs that you give them don't move round the body as well

because the peripheries shut down. If you warm them too quickly,

and have given them large amounts of drugs, the drugs rush through and cause all sorts of anomalies

which could possibly kill them.

Back at base, dispatcher Dave scrambles a land ambulance to meet the chopper when it lands

at Sheffield's Northern General Hospital.

We'll be flying a patient in to you in 10 minutes.

It's only a 300-yard drive from pad to Casualty, but today seconds count.

She's been involved in an RTA last night, apparently down an embankment where she crashed into a wall.

Someone's just found her this morning.

She's got a wrist and leg injury, not sure if they're fractured.

But she is severely hypothermic.

-Margaret, we'll get you wrapped up.

-The team put her into a special insulated sleeping bag.

Not only will it start warming her up, but the carry handles help on the steep walk to the helicopter.

-Watch your feet here.

-Margaret's condition is serious, but this is dangerous terrain

and the team can't risk rushing.

If we just start wheeling her feet down, then we'll put her down in line with our stretcher.

Once they're airborne, they'll be in Sheffield in just four minutes.

-Got any pain anywhere?

-No...

We'll get you up to our monitors and stuff.

Can I just have your sleeve? Good job you had this jacket on!

Even though she's freezing, Darren has to cut through the coat that kept Margaret alive.

-Pop this on your finger, Margaret.

-It's vital he gets monitoring equipment on to her

in case her condition gets worse,

especially since it's now clear that she's also broken one or both of her wrists.

'She'd sustained minor injuries, if you call fractured wrists minor,'

but the most important aspect of the patient's condition to us was the hypothermia.

'Hypothermia's always more of a problem for elderly people who are more infirm

'and not quite as active and don't always dress for the situation.'

Margaret has Parkinson's disease. She'd been dressed for a local dance when the crash happened,

making her survival in thin trousers and coat all the more remarkable.

The air ambulance crew have done all they can,

but with her injuries and severe hypothermic state, her survival is still uncertain.

For three nights, doctors at Sheffield's Northern General Hospital treated Margaret.

Her temperature was slowly raised, her broken bones set,

and after just a week she's sitting up in bed.

Nurses don't often talk about miracles, but Margaret's survival is about as close as you can get.

I was trying to do a three-point turn

and the drive seemed to be sliding away from me, getting out of control.

And I just opened the door and got out as fast as I could.

I thought, "I've got to really pull myself up," but I couldn't find anything to hold on to.

I could see the stars coming out and I know I called out

if there was anybody there to come and help me.

Nothing happened and nobody came.

I didn't know whether I would survive the night or not.

And then I heard these voices saying...calling my name

and saying they'd got help and the air ambulance was coming.

I think I must have passed out again.

I went in and out of consciousness.

Doctors believe the constant tremors caused by Margaret's Parkinson's disease may have helped her survive,

maintaining the circulation in her limbs as the temperatures plunged.

The good news is she's now back at home in the Peak District and recovering well from her ordeal.

There's no traffic congestion in the sky, but teaching a patient still has its problems.

For a start, they've got to find them and that's not simple.

It's an idyllic Dales day and from Heli Med 98 you get a good view of what's going on.

It's a very popular spot, especially in glorious weather like this.

The walkers are out in force.

It attracts a lot of people. Beautiful country.

What could possibly go wrong?

-Oh!

-Margaret Hodgson has fallen badly on the fells above her home.

Heli Med 98 is on the way.

It has some of the most sophisticated sat nav gear that you can get,

but what you need to spot a patient on a fellside from 500 feet up is more basic.

-Look at your two o'clock.

-You need an experienced flight crew with good eyesight.

Ohh!

There's 200 square miles of this in the Dales, mostly home to sheep,

but they have spotted Margaret.

Now they've got to land, but this isn't a flat heli pad.

Margaret has fallen on a steep slope and pilot Tim's job is to land £1.5m-worth of chopper next to her.

This is the flattest bit here.

-Are we putting down here?

-It's got to be safe and it's not going to be easy.

But this bit is too steep and the helicopter could topple over.

-Pilot Tim Taylor needs help from the back seat.

-OK, you're fine this side.

Paul guides Tim in the last crucial couple of feet and they're down.

They can shut the engines down and get on with treating the patient.

Today's landing pad is Constitution Hill, above the North Yorkshire market town of Settle.

Picked a nice day for it.

Margaret was out for a walk with her friend Yvonne when she slipped and fell.

-I'm Paul.

-Hiya, Paul. I think I broke my ankle.

The first thing Paul needs to do is get her shoe off to see the damage,

but the ankle is really sore.

-Aaah!

-Paul tries to keep Margaret talking to take her mind off it.

She doesn't need much encouragement.

We've had this most beautiful walk. We went down the lane and right round. It's been gorgeous.

-I only had to make it to that gate.

-Paul's plan is working.

Whilst Margaret does the talking, he's got her shoe off.

-Have you been to the pub yet?

-No!

-We haven't been yet!

Without the anaesthetic of a pub lunch, it's clear that even Paul's conversation

won't entirely take Margaret's mind off the pain she's in. She's going to need extra pain relief.

It's the same stuff that's used in childbirth.

It's a long time since she had that!

Ohhh! OHH!

The crew have now realised that Margaret has her own unique way to deal with the agony she's in.

Paul knows that even the most good-humoured patient will struggle with the next bit

-and Margaret is understandably tense.

-Try not to tense up. It's contracting your muscles.

-OK.

-I'm relaxing.

-I'm not sure if that was really convincing.

It may be beautiful, but it's remote. They'll need help carrying Margaret to the helicopter.

Mountain Rescue have come along to lend a hand.

But even they struggle with the slope.

-All right, you're going back. Relax.

-Take some deep breaths, Margaret. Deep breaths, Margaret.

Meanwhile, there's more drama at the top of the hill.

Margaret has nearly exhausted all the gas and air and she's still very audibly in considerable pain.

Ohhh! That hurts!

If the pain gets too much for you, we'll give you an injection.

No, I don't want an injection.

-Ohhh! No, that's six! Going rapidly - seven, eight, nine!

-Take some of this gas and air.

Margaret, you're missing your mouth. That was in your ear!

The news of Margaret's predicament is spreading far and wide.

Your mother's broke her ankle. We've got an air ambulance.

It turns out Margaret and the Fell Rescue Team are old friends.

Ah, Margaret!

Has she been fantasising again?

-Have you got hold of my son?

-Yes!

Margaret has made this one of their more memorable fellside rescues.

-Are you normally this jolly, Margaret?

-Yeah!

She's the highlight of parties!

-Here you come, Margaret.

-Are you local, Margaret?

-Very.

We'll not take off without telling you where we're going.

If I go to Lancaster, push my phone down my front!

With Margaret and Yvonne still discussing where to put her phone, the crew get on the road.

We'll fly her to Airedale. She's in pain, but quite stable.

Quite jolly, really. We'll get her leg sorted there.

The slope is causing a problem for Tim who has turned himself into a human counterweight

-by standing on the chopper's skid.

-I'm in shock, Yvonne!

-Of course!

I'm putting weight on the front end.

If people start rocking the end, it might turn into a bit of a seesaw.

-Yvonne! Yvonne!

-Meanwhile, back at the patient loading bay,

whilst the paramedics carry on their work, drama continues around them.

Take my engagement ring off! Take my engagement ring off.

Right. One...two.

Margaret's afternoon stroll is ending with a short ride to hospital 20 miles away.

-OK, Margaret?

-Yeah.

-Good.

Like most people living in the Dales, she's a big fan of her rescuers.

Ramblers aren't good at putting their feet up and despite not being able to stand on that leg,

-she and Yvonne have come to thank the rescuers.

-Eight minutes to hospital...

-From where you were.

It's about an hour's drive. It could have been longer by road.

-So these guys got you there in eight minutes instead of an hour?

-Yes.

-Over an hour.

-Wonderful.

-Has it put you off hillwalking?

Definitely not! Frustrated me...! I'm a dreadful patient. I'm staying with my sister

and I'm making her life hell!

-You don't want to know.

-No, you don't, but we've promised not to fall out.

-It really is frustrating.

-What about the recovery now? How long?

-Six weeks before I can put my foot to the floor. Then I don't know.

-A bit of rehab.

-Then back out.

-Hopefully!

-With your rescue buddies!

-Yes!

I'm taking them out for a meal! Or a pint.

-You kept your spirits up when this happened. Still keeping a positive, brave face?

-Definitely.

-When they were treating you... It was a broken leg!

-I know!

-Her language was a bit ripe!

-People who I knew really well were walking past me and said,

"Oh, Margaret, are you having a rest?"

In fact, I've got some wonderful photos. One of my friends was snapping away with his camera!

Oh, yes.

-It was funny.

-It was all round Settle. Everybody knew about it.

-So you thought you'd keep your spirits up...

-Yes. There was nothing I could do about it.

It had happened, you know. Frustratingly, but it had happened.

Good for you. I hope you make a full recovery.

Thank you so much. I'm sure I will.

Now let's catch up on that story we brought you earlier.

On a main road near York, a major rescue operation involving emergency services and the RAF

is underway. Three people are badly injured after an elderly driver suffered a seizure at the wheel.

His car swerved across the road and hit a hatchback driven by an Irish tourist, head-on.

You don't get road traffic collisions any worse than this, really. Head-on collision at speed.

Both cars devastated, occupants with severe injuries.

'It was a serious accident.'

Charles and Eleanor have been together for 40 years,

but now the medical team must make a difficult decision if he's to survive his multiple injuries.

We had to think quickly about how to transport both patients.

And we obviously sought back up and that came from the military with a search and rescue team.

But there's a problem. As they're married, ideally you take them both to the same hospital,

but that's not possible.

The problem is LGI has only one at a time on the heli pad.

we're going to a different place from them because of space.

Just be careful with that finger fracture.

With Charles out of the car, the medical team can thoroughly examine their patient.

He's got very low blood pressure, maybe a fractured pelvis, definitely femur.

-As well as the many broken bones, they notice a life-threatening injury.

-Is your chest hurting?

All right.

Charlie can't breathe properly.

-His lung has collapsed.

-He had some serious chest and lower limb injuries.

He had difficulty breathing, was very pale,

'needed critical interventions.'

We're going to help your breathing.

I'm putting a chest drain in.

Dr Andy Pountney has to perform emergency surgery at the roadside.

Making an incision in somebody's chest wall and putting a tube in to inflate somebody's lungs,

it's a lifesaving procedure, which this patient did need.

'It was a quite successful procedure and probably saved his life.'

You're doing very well, Charlie. You must have been a soldier. Haven't heard you scream yet.

He needs to get a tube into his chest, called a chest drain.

If he's successful, the lung will start to work again.

But doing an operation like this at an accident scene is risky.

Eleanor is already on her way to hospital by RAF helicopter.

OK, Sarah, does that hurt? It'll help with your breathing.

You're doing really well.

Dr Andy is the only person who can give Charlie a realistic chance of seeing his wife again.

Apart from infection, there can be other serious complications.

OK, that's all right.

These injuries would be serious for a man half his age. 30 miles away, a trauma team is waiting

for Heli Med 99's arrival.

Steve, is he confirmed for LGI?

LGI's confirmed, all right.

-Breathing still feeling OK, Charlie?

-Yeah.

-Good lad.

-Charlie must be carefully monitored for the 15-minute flight.

Whilst Steve the pilot negotiates the traffic and the wires to take off safely,

in the back of the helicopter Lee and Andy are concerned that Charlie could get worse.

I don't know. Looks like his chest is tightening.

Charlie, keep your arms straight.

-He had chest pains when he lost control of the car.

-Did he?

-Yeah, apparently.

They're worried that he may have had some form of seizure.

Did chest pain cause him to lose control of the vehicle?

He's sustained serious injuries, but at the moment his blood pressure is low, but stable.

We're being cautious with fluids. He's had a nerve block in his leg which makes the leg go numb

to help the pain from the broken bone, which seems to have worked for the moment.

He's struggling, to be honest.

Down onto the pad.

Heli Med 99 gave Charlie the only chance he had of survival, but not all cases have happy outcomes.

Charlie's now home, but his injuries were very serious

and he's likely to live with the medical consequences for the rest of his life.

That's all from Helicopter Heroes. But when we come back...the crew are called to their oldest ever patient.

90 years old and stranded in her moorland home.

Our neighbour's three miles away.

A man suffers 20% burns after a bizarre accident.

Freak weather brings chaos to one of the busiest motorways.

It's hailstones, then blue sky!

And the sporting injuries that keep the flying paramedics busy.

He landed on his head and shoulders.

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd - 2008

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