Episode 12 Helicopter Heroes

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

every minute you wait for medical aid to come can feel like an hour.

Which is why a helicopter can be one of the most beautiful sights.

It was for me when I was a copper.

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 life saver.

Every day brings a new life or death emergency for its team of flying paramedics.

Two helicopters, four paramedics, five million patients!

Today, a man is crushed between two trucks.

Can you get through the door?

..And he's just stopped breathing.

Quick as you can. He's going off.

A visitor to one of the UK's biggest caves

is knocked out by a falling rock.

It hit her head and she collapsed.

This teenage rider's been thrown

and crushed by her horse.

My back hurts but I can't feel it.

And the team are scrambled to a tree surgeon who's come down to earth the hard way.

'He fell from the top of that ladder.'

If an accident can happen, it's likely the heli-med team have dealt with something like it before.

But some jobs take them right back to training school.

When lorry drivers need medical help

it's normally because they've been involved in a an accident.

Heli-med 99's flying paramedics are used to prising truckers out of their crushed cabs.

But today a lorry driver needs their help urgently

and he hasn't even left the yard.

Outside Skipton in the Yorkshire Dales

a driver is trapped between his lorry and a parked container.

The driver's colleague is trying to keep him calm

but he's pinned by his waist and his feet are six inches off the floor.

Heli-med Alpha ready.

A-med 99 have been scrambled and are quickly racing towards the Dales.

Paramedics Tony Wilkes and Darren Axe know the driver's chances of survival

depend on how quickly they get there.

He's actually trapped physically. It depends on where he's trapped.

Whether it's just by the legs or by the chest.

Fire crews and a ground ambulance have already arrived

and the driver's shocked colleagues have come to see what's happening.

The driver's called Ray. He's 63 and he's very frightened.

Ray desperately needs Heli-med 99.

People who have been trapped for a long time can suffer numerous complications

as toxins begin to build up around the trapped parts of the body.

Once released, patients can quickly deteriorate

and need to be in hospital fast.

It's a fine line between how much intervention you can do on scene

as to how much time that eats off the clock.

If the hospital is eight minutes away, why spend 40 minutes on scene

trying to do a protracted paramedic intervention on that patient

unless it's really necessary.

There's an ambulance down there, so he's got to be this patient.

That's it.

Pilot Tim Taylor manages to land the helicopter right next to the lorry park.

It's now a race for paramedic Darren to work out how to get Ray out.

He's trapped between two lorries. He can feel his legs and pelvis.

He seems to be OK but the trouble is we've been a long time.

Nobody knows how it's happened,

but the wheel arch of his lorry is pinning him by the waist

to the red container behind.

Did you get to him through the door?

Luckily, the door was open

and Ray's head is resting inside his cab on the seat.

But the gap is so narrow, no-one can get close to Ray

and if the lorry moves again, he'll be crushed.

What's his pain score, Terry?

(INDISTINCT REPLY)

-I've got some morphine.

-We need a bit of morphine.

The only way of treating Ray is from inside his cab,

but there's barely enough room for Darren and ground medic Terry Blackburn.

He's managed to get to Ray

and has already started treatment.

He's pinned in his pelvic region.

But it's hard to say if it's crushing him or just restricting his movement.

He can feel his legs, which is a good thing.

He's in a lot of pain, so I've eased pressure there.

-Are you under the doctor for owt?

-No.

-Any medicines?

-No.

All right. Don't you worry, you'll be out of there soon.

Tony, if there's a basic structure, we might need some...

Darren is so worried about Ray's condition,

he calls for a doctor who will be able to give stronger painkillers

and provide support if Ray's condition deteriorates.

At Air Ambulance HQ, it's dispatcher Chris's job to find a doctor.

But the search is not going well.

I've asked them to page me the doctor's.

I told them to ring me here and find out who's nearest

but they've got nobody on their way at the moment.

Back at the scene, fire crews are frantically trying to work out

how to free Ray.

They can't move the lorry forward or back

as Ray will be crushed against the container.

So they decide to attach a cable to the side of the lorry

and hope the powerful winch will gently move the lorry away,

allowing the medical team to lower Ray onto a spinal board.

He'll collapse as soon as he's free, so hopefully they'll get a board behind him

to stop him collapsing once he's free.

Once this board's in place, boss, that's it. We need manpower to grab him when he's freed.

-We'll be round that side.

-That's great.

This is a dangerous operation.

If the cable slips, the lorry will fall back and crush Ray.

If he's got a spinal injury, any movement could cause paralysis.

Dispatcher Chris still hasn't found a doctor. But time is running out.

Darren and Tony will have to cope on their own.

It could make things a lot worse for the rescue teams as well

so we have to be careful and think about what we're doing.

Coming up: Ray stops breathing.

Pulse rate dropping. 42.

Freeing him becomes a matter of life or death.

As much as you can! Keep going!

A teenage rider is in pain after coming off her horse.

And the paramedics test their head for heights

on a hair-raising trip down a cliff.

It's just a case of trying to stay upright!

Tourists turn up in their millions to see Yorkshire's natural attractions.

But some are harder to get to than others.

The Yorkshire Dales is one of the country's most dramatic landscapes.

Over millions of years, water passing through the limestone

has carved out spectacular rock features.

And nowhere is more dramatic than this place!

Gaping Gill is Britain's biggest cave chamber,

a huge hole in the ground that falls away 360 feet

to the base of this immense cavern.

It's Britain's finest cave.

It's a fantastic place.

You've got a 360-foot-high shaft open to daylight

falling into the biggest cave chamber in Britain.

This incredible spectacle

can normally only be seen by experienced cavers.

But for one week a year,

a local pot-holing club set up a special winch

to lower the public into this massive chamber.

But today there's been an accident.

Someone's been hit by a large rock and been knocked out.

At Gaping Gill south.

The cave rescue team have called for the air ambulance

otherwise this patient would face a bumpy hour-long trip back to the nearest road.

The heli-med 99 can be there in a matter of minutes.

Paramedics Sammy Wills and Pat Greaken are on their way.

We've been requested by cave rescue to attend a place called Gaping Gill

above Ingleborough.

A lot of caving and climbing goes on in that area. We don't know if it's a climber or caver.

We'll have to wait and see. It could be a caver but you never know.

It's a clear day

and the sun's out.

But for pilot Steve Cobb, it's the wind that's causing him concern.

The weather today is not particularly nice - a gusty wind.

It's gusting at 40 or 45 knots on the ground

so up on the exposed hills it may be worse than that.

So we'll have to wait till we get there to see how bad it is.

-Is that vehicles just below the top, Steve?

-Yes.

Looks like it.

As soon as they land on the windswept hillside,

Sammy meets the cave rescuers who've been treating the patient.

The accident has happened at the bottom of a steep slope.

Kerry Sell had been waiting to go down the cave

when a boulder fell and hit her on the back of the head,

knocking her unconscious.

How bad does the sickness feel?

It's been on and off, hasn't it?

Yes.

We're moving you, OK?

We had a report from Bradford Pothole Club

that someone waiting up here had had a loose rock fall on their head.

They'd been unconscious and just had a scalp injury.

'It was the sound of the rock falling down the bank.

'The young lady on the stretcher'

was sat upright, didn't see it and it hit her on the head and she collapsed.

Members of the local pothole club were going to be taking Kerry down the cave.

Instead, they've been left to deal with her injuries on the surface.

There was a lot of blood matted in her hair.

But she was very, very pale,

she was shaking and she kept going in and out of consciousness,

coming back and saying she had blurred vision and really didn't feel well at all.

The paramedics know head injuries need to be treated very carefully

so flying Kerry to the nearest hospital is by far the best option.

We're gonna bring her up the steps and get her off to the hospital.

But the wind is picking up. Pilot Steve has already had to tie down the rotor blades

to stop them being damaged by the gusts.

If it gets any worse, they won't be flying anywhere.

The landing's not a problem, it's starting up again.

cos we've got a 50-knot limitation on the rotors.

It's probably over 40 now and it's gusting.

A steady wind's not so bad, but a gusting wind makes things worse.

So we'll have to hope for the best.

We hope the wind dies down a little enough for us to get going.

It will be quite tense when we start it.

I can hardly talk, it's so windy.

We're putting her on a long board.

She's on a stretcher but that can't come with us

so we'll put her on a long board in the aircraft.

So with Kerry on board, the hospital treatment she needs is minutes away.

But the gusts are blowing harder

and if Steve removes the ropes holding on to the rotor blades,

the wind could snap them clean off.

Whether Kerry gets to hospital now

depends entirely on the weather.

Coming up: Steve calls in paramedic Pat

to lend a hand as they try to get Kerry into the air.

We don't want them to start turning before we start the engine power.

There's a life-or-death decision to take

as a trapped man takes a turn for the worse.

As quickly as you can.

He's going off.

And up on the roof, a country cottage conversion ends in agony.

They say when you've fallen off a horse, you should get straight back on or you'll lose your nerve.

But for some riders, it's not that simple.

Heli-med 99 is on its way to a riding yard near Malton in North Yorkshire.

A young girl has had a serious accident.

14-year-old Charlotte Boyes was crushed when the horse she was riding

fell on top of her.

The most likely injuries will be neck and back injuries. The weight of the horse

falling onto a smaller person will have more effect than on an adult.

The crew are told that Charlotte's injuries are severe.

Ground paramedics suspect she has a fractured pelvis.

This is worrying paramedic Darren Axe.

It could wind up with bursting her bladder

or severing major blood vessels.

But we've also got other injuries as well

like possible fractured arm and a fractured leg.

Heli-med 99 Alpha about to let down, please.

The horse that Charlotte was riding has been put away.

People often forget that animals can be terrified by helicopters.

Charlotte, how many years young are you?

-Seven.

-You're not! You're 14!

-You're 14? Are you married?

-No.

-Wonderful.

Darren's bedside manner and the presence of Mum

can help calm Charlotte.

Charlotte, try not to cry, pet. I'll make it better as quick as I can.

For pilot Steve Cobb, it's a personal reminder of how dangerous horse-riding can be.

-STEVE:

-Both my daughters ride horses and both have had accidents.

Bad accidents, really. It's a stressful time.

You can't help but feel for them, to be honest.

I can feel that a leg hurts, but I can't really feel it.

OK. I'll give you some more, then.

The numbness Charlotte is feeling is worrying. She could have hurt her spine.

She needs hospital treatment urgently.

Heli-med 99 must get Charlotte to James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough as soon as possible.

X-rays will reveal the extent of her injuries and whether she'll be able to ride again.

A week later, back at the family's riding yard near Malton,

there's some good news.

Charlotte's had a very lucky escape.

X-rays revealed that she had no broken bones

but her hip was dislocated.

She's still in pain and walking with the aid of crutches,

but she feels very lucky.

I just remember him on top of me

I couldn't really feel how heavy he was. It felt like I was being crushed.

Christine Boyes was riding with her daughter

and saw the accident happen.

I just jumped off my horse and ran to her.

She was lying still. I didn't know what to think.

Christine knows that this accident could have been a lot worse.

She's sure the safety equipment Charlotte was wearing helped prevent further injuries.

This is a back protector which Charlotte wears when riding.

If she hadn't had this on,

her injuries would have been a lot worse.

It protects both front and back

and with the horse falling on her, I'm sure this is what saved her from serious injuries.

Although Charlotte's recovery will take a while,

she's keen to ride her horse Chester again soon.

'I probably won't jump for a while.

'As soon as I could walk, I was on a horse.

'I really want to go riding now but it might be a bit hard.'

Coming up. An injured sightseer has missed her chance of visiting Yorkshire's biggest cave.

Or has she?

And a kids' trampoline is great fun...

unless you're 58 and have had a few beers.

What about pain level? How is it?

It's all right. It's sound.

At a factory in North Yorkshire,

a man has been trapped between two lorries.

Paramedic Darren Axe is worried -

with good reason.

Heli-med 99's crew have been scrambled to a warehouse near Skipton

to save a trapped lorry driver.

Raymond Walsh is wedged between his cab and a parked container.

His feet are six inches off the floor.

If we can gain a few inches

then we'll be able to pull the man through the cab.

That's Plan A.

Fire crews are frantically attaching a winch

to pull the lorry across to release Ray

while Darren Axe tries to control his patient's pain.

That pain now, buddy.

What is it now?

-My back. It's the same.

-Same?

-Three.

-Right we want nought.

Ground paramedic Terry Blackburn reached Ray first and is helping keep him stable.

But they're both worried about the length of time he's been trapped.

Toxins can start to build up around the trapped part of the body.

Once released, they can cause lethal complications.

Ray's been trapped for over half an hour,

but finally the fire crews are ready to start the winch and pull the lorry away.

He's fine! Keep going!

Keep going!

This is very risky. If the cable snaps or the winch fails,

Ray will be crushed.

Don't let it back now, for Christ's sake!

But there's a problem.

The winch isn't powerful enough to pull the heavy lorry away to release Ray.

It has moved a little bit.

Stick your hand back under that corner.

Fire crews are baffled and must now think of Plan B.

But the situation is about to become even more serious.

Papa! Papa! Talk to me.

Talk to me.

Pulse rate dropping. 42.

Papa?

Just BLEEP get it done!

Can't do that.

-Can't we?

-No.

We'll pull her round now.

Chop them hinges as quick as you can. He's going off.

Ray's gone into cardiac arrest.

Look at me, Chief!

"Going off" is paramedic slang for a patient dying.

The small movement has caused blood to flow back down Ray's body.

His blood pressure has plummeted and he's unconscious.

You've got no more pull on that at all?

We're lifting now. As soon as we lift it, we'll have someone in.

The fire crews are desperately trying to free Ray.

Until they do, Darren and Terry can't get close enough to resuscitate him.

Unless they start soon, Ray will die.

As much as you can!

Keep going!

-Rest! Enough!

-Hold it at that! Hold it!

-Is he out?

-He's out.

They've done it! The lorry moves just enough

for paramedic Tony to drag Ray out.

He's still unconscious and the team must now try and revive him.

We've got a pulse. Got a pulse.

Let's get a line back on him.

Ray is fighting for his life.

He's been in cardiac arrest for nearly two minutes

and is still not responding to Darren and Tony.

Drugs and fluids are helping, but they're relying on Ray's body to react.

Papa! Now, then, me old china, keep looking at us.

It's a big relief for the team

as Ray finally shows signs of life.

But there's no more they can do.

Ray is critically ill and needs specialist hospital care.

CONVERSATION INDISTINCT

Up, up, up, up, up.

And rest. There we are.

It's just the basics. Put a cannula in. Gave him fluids.

Pain relief, oxygen.

He went off on us but they dragged the wagon away, he went off.

Good job he's alive. That's the main thing. It's not up to us now.

The industrial unit is just outside the Dales market town of Skipton,

miles from the nearest hospital.

But thanks to Heli-med 99 and the helipad at Leeds General Infirmary,

Ray will be receiving more life-saving treatment

at a top trauma centre in just ten minutes.

It's a text-book job from everybody that was involved in it.

From a technical rescue point of view initially it was difficult.

You have to choose the direction you're gonna pull this thing.

Once you pull it, you can't let it go back.

From a paramedic's point of view, myself and the other paramedic that were in the cab,

we'd got a patient to watch because we knew his condition would change rapidly

once they removed the weight from his abdomen and body.

Which proved to be the case.

When they took the weight from him, he went into cardiac arrest when his blood pressure dropped.

Ray's body has been through a huge ordeal.

He's been given the best possible chance of survival.

But will the rescue team's efforts be in vain?

Coming up: Doctors start work on Ray as his family rush to his bedside.

And the paramedics go over the top

as they tackle a coastguard rescue course.

Not many people would sign up for a sightseeing tour

that involved a 300-foot vertical ride on the end of a rope.

But one woman who did buy a ticket

is about to enjoy another hair-raising experience.

Kerry Sell has come to the Dales for a unique opportunity -

to be lowered into the vast Gaping Gill cavern.

But she's never left the surface.

She's been knocked out by a falling rock.

Heli-med 99's crew decide she needs to be checked out at hospital.

But the strong wind is at the limit for taking off safely.

Pat's been given a special task in order for them to leave the ground.

One that's certainly stretching him!

The wind is so gusty, it's near our parameters, our maximum limit.

We don't want them to start turning before we start the engine power.

We don't want them to flap, either.

So Pat is just supporting it until the pilot is ready to go.

Then he'll get the thumbs up and he'll move.

It's down to Pat on this one.

This is all about crucial timing.

Eventually, Heli-med 99's engines take the strain

and the plan has worked.

They can now head off this windswept moor to the hospital.

-What's the ETA, Pat?

-Our ETA is 12 minutes.

12. Cool.

I told her six or seven.

Well, when you've had a bang on the head, time sort of...

That's cruel!

-A bit of breeze on your face, all right?

-Yep.

While Kerry's condition seems to have stabilised for now,

it's vital her head injury is thoroughly checked out in hospital.

The fact that the rock has fallen onto her and knocked her out,

that's our main concern that she could have concussion

or any other head injury.

This spectacular cave is only open to the public for a few days a year.

Kerry's unexpected trip to hospital means she's missed her chance.

But just four days later,

the cave rescue team are heading back to the Gill with a special passenger.

Only hours after Gaping Gill closes to the public for 12 months,

Kerry's come back. Her rescuers have laid on a VIP visit to the cave

to make up for her bump on the head.

I'm OK.

Just coming back is a bit weird.

Seeing where it was and that.

But I'm OK.

The cut on Kerry's head has been treated with stitches

and she's had a few days rest.

Now she's feeling ready to head down into this huge abyss.

I'm quite excited about going down.

A bit nervous, but...

It looks good.

And now Kerry's time has come.

At the start of the week, she'd been heading upwards in an air ambulance.

Now she's on her way downwards into this immense cavern.

Oh, it's amazing!

It's really small and you think you'll hit something.

Then as you come down it gets really big and you hear the water

and see it coming down the rock face. That was brilliant!

I really enjoyed that.

Now, a chance to explore a unique underground world

after a speedy recovery made even quicker by Heli-med 99.

It was a lovely ride and the pilot was brilliant.

Considering it was really windy that day, and the woman was really nice.

She was talking to me and she was really helpful.

I reckon if the helicopter wasn't there, I wouldn't have recovered as quickly.

And it seems Kerry's caving experience might not be ending here.

She had a smile on her face when she came back.

I spoke to her and she seemed fairly amazed by it.

She says she's considering taking up caving.

She's talking about joining the club.

So all you need to do to get new members is whack 'em on the head!

Coming up: The paramedics have brought him back from the dead.

But can a trapped worker make a full recovery?

They say what goes up must come down.

But gravity isn't always a good thing.

It's responsible for an awful lot of accidents. Just ask the flying paramedics.

There are plenty of things to fall off in a place like Yorkshire.

If that happens here, the chalk cliffs of Flamborough Head,

it's a long way down.

You don't need to tell a helicopter paramedic that gravity can be deadly.

Today, the Heli-med team are learning how to defy it the safe way

with the coastguard rescue squad.

It's a sheer drop to about 150 foot.

Sadly, the victims of most falls aren't this well prepared.

Hi, it's Chris ringing from the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Can I take your name, please?

At Air Ambulance HQ, dispatcher Chris has sent Heli-med 99

to an urgent job in the Yorkshire market town of Malton.

Heli-med 99 Alpha going to Malton.

65-year-old Neil Gardener was lopping this tree

when he fell onto the concrete path below.

He has a serious head injury and has lost a lot of blood.

It's 40 miles from Heli-med 99's base to Malton.

It will take them under 20 minutes.

When paramedic Simon Cavanagh gets an update from ambulance control,

they know they're urgently needed.

'Patient with severe head injuries.'

We've got reports that the gentleman has been or is unconscious.

We're looking at the head injuries unit.

INDISTINCT

Once they arrive at the scene,

Tim decides to land in a school playing field.

Classes break to come and watch as the rugby pitch is turned into a makeshift helipad.

-He's fallen from a tree.

-Landed right on his face.

-From how high?

-About 40 foot.

-40 foot?! BLEEP

There are a few motorcycle paramedics in Yorkshire.

Luckily for Neil, one of them was parked around the corner from his house.

Not only that, his garden backs onto the local hospital

so two doctors are on the scene as well.

Neil has fallen from the top of that ladder

down here onto this hard path.

They've all quickly worked to stabilise Neil.

-Any more to do?

-We're just parked at the school.

Neil, we're gonna get you moved now, OK?

Neil's skull is fractured from his forehead to the top of his neck.

What's happening inside his head? We don't know.

He's had a fall of 40 foot onto concrete.

Who knows what else he's hurt?

Neil spent four weeks in hospital.

As a result of his serious head injury,

he's lost some of his memory.

All who saw how far he fell agree he's lucky to have survived.

Back on the east coast, paramedic Sammy Wells is next over the edge in her training with the coastguard.

It's just a case of trying to stay upright!

Apparently, it's a very wobbly and not sound surface.

If you fly in a helicopter, you can deal with heights.

The coastguard have all the right safety kit.

But most people hurt in falls are doing a bit of DIY.

Around 200,000 people go to hospital every year

after trying to "do it themselves".

Many accidents involve ladders.

We've been requested to attend an incident by a land crew.

A middle-aged gentleman has fallen two storeys off a ladder

with possibly a fractured arm.

The man who's called Heli-med 99 is Air Ambulance paramedic Darren Axe

who's working on the ground today.

He quickly decided that patient Kevin Howarth's broken arm

would probably need surgery to put it back together.

The ladder slid away from he and he dropped to the ground.

He's got a fractured humerus. It's bleeding quite bad and he's in a lot of pain.

The DIY fall happened in a housing estate in Goole, East Yorkshire.

It's fortunate that there's a ploughed field right next door

for the helicopter to land in.

I've got a line in one side but I'm not giving him any pain relief

cos if we give him owt, let's give him morphine.

Kevin Howarth was replacing the soffits on the roof of his home.

His wife, Alexis, was holding the ladder.

Except for the moment when he fell.

No, cos I never held the ladder. He said I had to go up inside cos he couldn't manage.

So I went inside.

Kevin's arm is badly damaged.

He used it to break his fall from the roof

and the bone was shattered.

Are you happy to fly with us in the helicopter?

A bit more DIY is required first before they can get Kevin on his way to hospital.

I've given the gentleman 10mg of morphine for the pain.

He seems quite happy with 10mg of morphine.

It's taken the edge off his injury.

All his observations are fine.

We're taking him to Pinderfields to hand him over to the medics.

Kevin was taken to hospital in Wakefield

and surgeons successfully pinned his arm back together.

The coastguards do this sort of thing for a living.

Some jobs do put you at the mercy of gravity.

Every year, falls kill more than 20 building workers in the UK.

Heli-med 99 is on the way to a cottage conversion on a farm near Thirsk.

Steve Nelson was working 20 foot up when he fell.

He's in great pain and he's just become a statistic.

One of 1,000 construction workers who will be seriously hurt at work this year.

A land ambulance crew has already put his dislocated knee back

but there may be other injuries.

He's fallen approximately ten feet

but he's still eight feet off the ground.

We'll need some extra help just to get him from where he is.

Steve has already been securely strapped to a rigid spinal board

to protect his back when he's moved.

It's a bit tricky. We're offering an extra pair of hands.

Can I just feel your pulse? Are you normally fit and well?

Keep breathing on that if you want.

It look like he's landed on something fairly flat and broad

so he's not damaged himself that much

but it could have been a different story if he'd landed on his head on these rocks.

Would you like some more gas before we lift you

or can you cope without? Why don't you take some more?

This is gonna be the hard part of this job.

Many hands make light work. Can you co-ordinate down that side?

Straight onto the stretcher. OK with that?

One, two, three, move back a bit more.

-You're off.

-Clear.

-Watch that big hole.

-OK. I've got the hole.

Steve's not badly hurt

so he'll miss out on a flight today.

He was back at work in a week or two.

But most paramedics agree

that these have led to the biggest increase in injuries from falls.

The most recent stats show 11,000 people a year

end up in A&E thanks to trampolines.

And not all of them are kids!

We're going to South Embersil.

A patient has fallen off a trampoline.

Assume he didn't bounce very well. He's got a back injury.

We're getting lots and lots of these trampoline details recently.

Flat on his back in an ambulance,

Alan Truman is ready for the Heli-med team.

His wife, Caroline, saw what happened.

What made him panic is he couldn't feel his feet.

So we phoned for the ambulance straightaway.

Paramedic Darren Axe knows this area well.

His local knowledge is going to come in handy today.

We're landing in the school where I went.

So I know where we're going.

The ambulance with Alan on board has already made its way to Darren's old school.

The crew that picked him up are taking no chances with this back injury.

Alan had been relaxing with a few drinks on a sunny bank holiday when it all went wrong.

He's had four pints of Stella and a brandy.

Are you comfortable? What about your pain level? How is it?

It's all right. It's sound.

He's one of these who don't like to... Don't make a fuss. I'm OK.

He's not fallen off the trampoline. He landed awkwardly.

He's had a sharp pain in his back then lost the feeling from the waist down.

Obviously you can't take chances. A journey to Pinderfields will be excessive for him.

The crew have done the right thing calling us in.

Found us a good landing spot. Couldn't ask for more.

Alan's ready for his flight,

feeling a little bit the worse for wear.

The pain - I don't believe it.

Really painful, is it?

Very, very, very painful.

Ten minutes later, Alan is in the hands of specialists.

Two, three, lift. All right, Alan, just relax. That's it. Clear.

He still has a bad back, but he has cut down on the trampolining!

Unfortunately, trampolines are coming more and more to the fore.

If you want to get injured, get a trampoline!

I'm pleased to say all our patients who fell victim to gravity

are now on the mend.

Let's catch up on the man who owes his life to paramedics Darren Axe and Tony Wilkes.

At the Leeds General Infirmary, lorry driver Raymond Walsh is fighting for his life.

An hour ago, he was trapped between his lorry and a parked container

outside an industrial unit in North Yorkshire.

Flying paramedics Darren Axe and Tony Wilkes and a team of rescuers managed to free Ray.

But his blood pressure dropped so low he lost consciousness

and stopped breathing.

We've got a pulse.

'We expected something like that to happen

so we'd attempted to buffer his system prior to that

by the amount of fluids that we'd given him.

When he arrested, I thought that was it.

I thought that was game shot and we'd be up against it.

But Tony and the firemen and other crew took him out from the truck.

By the time I got out of the cab, they'd started resus.

He was starting to come round, which is amazing, really.

It's an anxious few hours for Ray and his family.

He undergoes numerous tests and scans.

By the end of one of the most traumatic days of his life,

Ray is out of danger.

Just two days later, Ray is well enough to take his wife for a cappuccino.

Not bad for a man who literally died 48 hours ago!

The woman who put me through, it were a doctor, says, "This is nothing.

"The spring through again, you've missed it.

"There must be something." And there wasn't.

Which is a miracle in itself

because at the time I thought my pelvis had gone.

Ray may not be physically injured,

but the mental scars will take a long time to heal.

I was moving a trailer. I heard a scraping noise and thought, "It shouldn't be moving!"

I thought the handbrake on the unit was on.

I turned round and went to get in the cab to put the handbrake on.

Whether it was my weight, jumping on the... There's two steps to get in,

my weight on the bottom step just gave it that... And it rolled.

I couldn't move. I had a job to breathe.

I thought, "Whatever you do, don't panic."

I've just one main regret.

And that's putting the wife through it all.

Today, Ray's come to Leeds Bradford airport, home of the Heli-med team.

There's one man who he especially wants to meet.

-I've met you before.

-Give me your hand.

-You all right?

-Fine, thanks.

-You look well.

-Better than you did that day!

-I can imagine!

-I was talking to you and you nodded off on me!

-That's right!

That were a real shocker!

So I gave them a now or never. "Pull him out now or never."

You were in real trouble.

Darren's used to meeting grateful patients

and showing them round his office.

But he wasn't expecting to see Ray quite so soon!

Not many patients that scare me as much as you did!

-You're scaring me, now!

-You did scare me.

You've done so well.

When we rang up and they said, "Oh, he's sat up drinking tea",

I was stunned because I knew you were gonna be all right at that point

-but to say you weren't badly injured, I can't believe that.

-I can't.

Ray has nothing but praise for the rescuers that saved his life.

'They weren't like machines. They were real people

'and they really cared.

'That's what came across to me.

'You weren't just a casualty.'

No problem. Any time. That's what we do.

'You were a human being and you needed looking after.'

That's all from Helicopter Heroes. But when we come back...

A struggle for survival as a couple fall into a canal.

Patients can become hypothermic.

A horse throws its rider.

Paramedics fear she could be paralysed.

Where exactly does it hurt?

There's a miraculous escape for a farm worker in a road accident.

He'd been ejected and thrown.

A pensioner's downhill run on her grandchildren's sledge ends in pain.

Subtitles by Moira Diamond Red Bee Media - 2008