Episode 12 Helicopter Heroes

If you're critically ill or seriously injured, seconds count.

And in Britain's biggest county, you can be a long way from help.

-Where's the patient?

-She's stuck under the car!

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance flies at 150mph, and thanks to its speed,

hundreds of patients are alive today,

saved by a highly-skilled team of doctors and paramedics.

-Stand clear, everybody.

-Keep going, mate!

It covers some of the UK's most rugged landscapes,

turning roadsides into operating theatres...

We're going to pop him up to speed with an emergency anaesthetic, OK?

..and town centres into helipads.

-OK on the left?

-Just behind you, Tim.

And every day the helimed team's skill, speed and courage is saving lives.

Today on Helicopter Heroes:

The shops are busy and if helimed pilot Chris can't find a parking space, a man may die.

-This big opening.

-That's the one I'm looking at, mate.

Paramedic Tony's scrambled to a serious accident on the school run.

We'll look after you, OK? Just hang on there a second.

A digger driver's trapped, and John must save his crushed leg.

Fire Service are getting it all sorted so they can lift it, Willie.

And a biker's bizarre injury means a difficult case for Darren.

Behind the seat there's a splint.

Thanks to the air ambulance's speed, many people find medical help

is with them before they've even finished their 999 call,

but some emergencies are so urgent, even that is not fast enough.

This is how I like to spend a lot of my leisure time.

You can pump iron or just work on your fitness,

and watch your favourite telly at the same time.

It's a great way to stay in shape.

But at this gym in the market town of Selby,

staff are trying to save a member's life.

He's just collapsed with a massive heart attack.

-It's a cardiac arrest, is it?

-Yeah, but they've got output now.

The BP is down, but they've got output.

The crew obviously worked well to get output so quickly and now he needs to be really over to Leeds

and the way we can do that is with the aircraft.

It's quick enough to get him there.

Pilot Chris Attrill knows a man's life is at stake.

If he can't find somewhere to land,

the patient may face a half-hour drive to A&E.

It's a trip he's unlikely to survive.

-You see where the Homebase is?

-Yep.

-There's a car going, just turning left now.

-Yeah.

Down the side of the Homebase. Can you go to the bottom of there and turn left?

-There's a big area over there.

-Yep.

Below, shoppers are unaware the air ambulance desperately needs a landing site.

The delivery yard behind a pet store is the best option Chris can see.

-They've got some loose pallets there to the right.

-Yeah.

OK, you're clear of the building behind. Bags of room now.

That's all right, mate. Happy with that. There you go, guys.

Hopefully they'll let us through Pets At Home.

Ground crew have seconds to bring paramedic Glen up to speed.

This is Owen, a 74-year-old gentleman, on the treadmill, seen to collapse.

Fell over backwards, cracked the back of his head.

-How many shocks?

-He's had three shocks.

-OK.

-With an AED.

Their patient was lucky in one way -

the gym has a heart defibrillator and staff trained to use it.

Defib read his heart rate, realised there wasn't a heart rate,

and advised shock so it shocked him three times in total,

at which point he started to come round a little bit.

-Have we managed to get a 12 lead?

-Yeah.

-Cool.

The medical jargon disguises the seriousness of his condition.

But to Glen's trained eye,

the print-out from the crew's ECG machine is unmistakable.

Quadruple bypass last year, might be a septal infarct.

-It's a bit hard to tell, but there you go.

-Come on then, bud. Go.

Come on, let's go.

74-year-old Owen Grimley's heart is racing

and failing to feed his brain with oxygen.

Unless they can get him to a cardiac unit quickly, he will die.

He's got some previous cardiac history so LGI Cath Labs will need to know.

He's currently got a GCS of about six. Go right, mate.

GCS of about six and I'll give you an update as soon as we get him on board.

Owen's wife was with him when he collapsed.

Now all she can do is watch as her husband is loaded aboard Helimed 99.

-Has his arrest stopped, yeah?

-Just about a little bit, but nothing...

He's had no adrenaline at all? OK.

Owen was fit for his age, despite open heart surgery last year.

He hoped it had cured his heart problems. It hadn't.

Yep, LGI has accepted. Thanks, bud. Thanks.

Leeds is just ten minutes' flying time.

99 now through the district of Selby, en route direct to the LGI...

It's crucially important now he gets to Leeds very quickly and hopefully get a good outcome.

Owen's heart rhythm is unstable.

Glen and Lee are concerned their patient may not live to reach hospital.

To them, this will feel like a very long flight.

In all those gloomy statistics about health and life expectancy,

there's actually a lot of good news stories too

and one of them is that you're four times less likely to die on the roads now

than you were 40 years ago.

But some road users are still very vulnerable.

When the school bell goes, hundreds of children, eager to get home,

pour out of their classrooms, some into buses,

many onto the roads often busy with rush-hour traffic.

The number of accidents involving children on the walk

to and from school has dropped dramatically in recent years.

But you can't be there for them all the time.

It just happened so quick. Julie couldn't restrain Joshua, he just ran out.

A split second of not paying attention on the short walk home from school

has left this seven-year-old with serious injuries.

He was just running across, was Joshua, before his mum could shout him.

Then obviously the van couldn't see, coming round.

The accident has happened just around the corner from Josh Butler's home

in the Pennine town of Liversedge.

He went flying up in the air, landed near the pavement.

His mum screamed and run across.

I just came across and told her not to move him.

She just wanted to cradle him.

Ambulance crews arrived within minutes.

They immediately requested backup from the helimed team.

-All right, guys? Hiya, hiya.

-This is Josh. He's been hit by that 4x4.

It's hit him on the front end, going 30 mph.

It hadn't gone on the bonnet, it's thrown him.

You can clearly see where Josh's head has hit the bumper of the four-wheel drive.

He has a major injury to his skull.

He has been crying.

He has got quite a large hematoma on the side of his head.

His pupils are quite slow to react

and he has episodes where it's difficult to get a response out of him,

and then he'll be really upset and crying.

Hiya, mum. It's all right, we'll look after him. OK, just hang on there a second.

The lump on Josh's head could be a sign of a bleed inside his skull.

If so, it could put pressure on his brain.

He's never been more awake than what we've got now.

Josh has been drifting in and out of consciousness and has been vomiting.

He has just been upset and crying.

Combined with his head injury, it's a potentially fatal combination for Josh.

He could choke.

Dr Simon Ward decides to anaesthetise him at the roadside,

a procedure called Rapid Sequence Induction or RSI.

Has he ever had an anaesthetic before? Maybe in hospital, an anaesthetic?

-He broke his arm when he was little so...

-And he was fine then?

-He didn't have any problems with the anaesthetic?

-No.

Josh's mum is understandably beside herself.

She saw it all happen, and there was nothing she could do about it.

I tried to calm Julie down and just came in and tried to get her some hot tea,

and the driver as well, and then everyone just congregated round.

A situation update - a planned RSI for a seven-year-old young man

and transferred to LGI.

I believe that Jez is just arriving. Over.

As Dr Simon prepares a cocktail of sleep-inducing drugs,

another helimed doctor who lives in nearby Huddersfield arrives to help.

Dr Jez Pinnel is a consultant anaesthetist.

OK, buddy.

This is a procedure that carries some risks,

but with a 20-mile flight ahead of him,

the risks of not doing it are greater.

Machinery has taken the hard labour out of many manual jobs,

but in the construction business,

more plant means the potential for even more serious injuries.

And the helimed team often comes face to face with the results.

Mechanical diggers can weigh in at up to six tonnes,

but today in the Pennines emergency services are heading to a bizarre accident

involving one of the smallest earthmovers you can buy.

If we're happy he's stable, can we roll, please.

Pilot Steve Cobb's encyclopaedic knowledge of Yorkshire

can often help where map-reading fails

but this emergency is almost beyond his mental database.

Is Long Preston after Hellifield?

Yeah. We're about a mile after.

-Hellifield's where the railway's coming from the south?

-Yep.

-Yeah.

Builder William Airey was helping out a farmer in the Dales.

-In that white house across there, the only one by the look of it.

-Yeah.

Popping off nicely. All happy with that, kid?

-All looking good at the side.

-Lovely.

The farm is on the road going from Yorkshire to the Lake District.

In emergency services terms, this is remote.

Hello, Willie. I'm John,

the paramedic that's come in't helicopter.

When the digger tipped over,

William's lower leg got trapped underneath it.

He's in great pain.

-What is it out of 10, Willy?

-I'd say about 10.

-10, right.

It's hurting a lot then, OK.

Paramedic John Baxter has a dilemma.

So what happened, Willy? How's it ended up on its side?

His patient understandably wants the weight of the digger off his leg

as soon as possible.

Right.

Complaining of a lot of pain, so John will get that under control

before they start moving any of the machinery around him.

And then we'll see what his injuries are when we get out,

whether he needs to go with us

or whether he can go by land to the nearest emergency department.

Crush injuries like this can prove fatal.

Toxins build up below where the blood supply is cut off.

Grab hold of that there.

If the digger's weight is suddenly released from William's lower leg,

those toxins could send his body into shock and kill him.

Bearing in mind the locality, I think we'll fly him through to Blackburn.

He'll get through quicker there

and they can get him the sort of pain relief

he needs to settle his leg.

Fire service are getting it all sorted so we can lift it, Willy, all right?

Their patient may want the earthmover shifted quickly,

but the paramedics must take their time.

Willy, I'm going to give you some pain relief now, OK?

It'll take a few minutes to work.

And then the fire service are going to get you out.

Morphine to kill the pain

and fluids on stand-by in case his blood pressure plummets.

What we'll do is aim for lifting this corner,

-obviously counterweights there.

-That's fine, yes.

So you tell us when you're ready.

The fire and rescue service have hydraulic rams

and special airbags designed to lift heavy vehicles.

But a digger is less stable. They must be careful.

Obviously a mini digger, there's quite a bit of weight involved.

You don't want any involuntary movement

so it's going to have to be really careful and delicate.

-Right, do you think you can climb out?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

At last, William is freed.

Blood flow to much of his leg has been cut off for more than an hour.

It could still lead to serious complications

but his workmates are relieved.

Look at the support we have here. It's brilliant.

We can't thank the Yorkshire Air Ambulance enough.

It could've saved him.

Toxins that have built up in William's trapped leg

are now flowing around his body.

Compartment syndrome kills

and paramedic John is looking for symptoms.

There are none so far.

See if I can get a pulse.

PATIENT GROANS

William is taken to Blackburn's Royal Hospital.

Over the next three days the builder undergoes a series of tests

to see if the damaged tissue in his lower leg will recover.

I just wanted that weight off my leg.

You can imagine something that's a ton of weight just pressing down

and it's just quietly going numb, is your foot.

It's just that weight and the pain was horrendous, yeah.

'When he took the weight off, I couldn't feel anything,

'it was just, like, numb. It was nothing there at all.

'And yeah, it's worrying.'

You think because there's no feeling there, it's dead, you know.

Amazingly, there are no broken bones. William has been lucky.

It has crushed muscles and damaged soft tissue.

A week on crutches and then the builder will be back in his digger.

It's like somebody riding a horse.

When a horse kicks them off,

they get back on and that's how they learn.

It's part of my job and I'll just have to be more careful in future.

Now let's return to the desperate battle to save pensioner

Owen Grimley whose heart has already been restarted once today

by the staff at his local gym.

Helimed 99, one minute to landing at LGI.

Helimed 99 is on final approach to the Leeds General Infirmary,

much to the relief of its crew.

Patient Owen Grimley is 74 and fighting for his life.

He desperately needs angioplasty -

a procedure to clear out the blocked blood vessels that half an hour ago

gave him an almost fatal heart attack.

He's been at the gym, working out.

He's been on a treadmill and had a sudden collapse,

gone into cardiac arrest.

The people at the gym, the staff I think have done an outstanding job.

They carry a defibrillator there which is a machine

that can get the heart restarted.

And they've done that and I think got him quickly going again,

called for the emergency services so hopefully the outcome will be good.

Owen's booked in to the cath lab,

a specialist unit where surgeons use micro-surgical techniques

to operate on heart patients within minutes of their attacks.

Owen? Owen?

Land crew assessed he'd fallen backwards.

I haven't had a look round the back of his head.

But there's a problem for doctors.

No-one knows whether the head injury Owen sustained when he fell

from the treadmill is complicating his condition.

When we arrived he was like this but his C-spine's not cleared. You know that, don't you?

-OWEN GROANS

-OK?

-OK.

-All right.

The angio team are ready to ease the blood flow into Owen's ailing heart.

All right, Owen, OK. All right. OK, mate.

But he's semi-conscious and struggling.

All right, Owen. Just relax. Just relax.

-That's it.

-Stay nice and still.

-Owen, Owen?

They can't operate on him like this, and a delay could be lethal.

Owen, just relax. Owen, it's OK. You're safe.

Owen's life is now in the hands of a team of highly-trained nurses,

radiologists and surgeons.

But if it hadn't been for the staff of his gym

and a defibrillator, he would already be dead.

15 miles away, his amateur lifesavers are anxious for news.

I knew it was serious but I was just kind of living, like...

Every second I need to get this guy breathing

but it was just so great when we saw he'd got a heartbeat.

He started to breathe again and we could see with his neck,

he was trying to grasp so that was amazing, just to see that.

I went over to the helicopter.

Seeing him in the helicopter, there was no life still.

I still wasn't 100% sure if he was back or not.

So basically he was dead

and we managed to bring him back to breathing again.

It was a team effort and also a bit of luck as well.

Owen's heart rhythm has stabilised since his arrival at the LGI.

But that's about to change.

VT, about 200.

Suddenly, his heart rate soars to 200 beats a minute.

It's a speed it cannot sustain

and it's starving his brain of oxygen.

Unless the team can slow his heart, he will die.

Come on, guys. Everyone clear. Shocking.

For the second time today, a shock from a defibrillator

has restored Owen's heartbeat.

Once more he has a chance of survival - but it's slim.

I had a similar job to this, it happened in Halifax.

We brought a gentleman here and he had two stents put in

and he remained unconscious for a fortnight.

They tried to wake him up six times and on the sixth time he came round.

And two weeks later, he's 99% fit and well.

But that's very unusual.

Owen must rely on the fitness his trips to the gym have given him

if he's to beat the odds and survive.

All of the Helimed team's doctors have advanced skills developed

during years of experience in A&E but what happens when your patient

needs a risky medical procedure and you're miles from a hospital?

The short walk home from school has left seven-year-old Josh Butler

with a massive head injury.

Helimed 99 has brought Dr Simon Ward's life-saving surgical skills to the roadside.

He's going to anaesthetise Josh.

All right, Josh.

One set of drugs to make him go to sleep,

then another to paralyse his muscles and stop him from breathing

and then Dr Simon inserts a tube down his throat

so he can take control of his airway

and breath for his patient.

Well done, matey.

It all happens quickly

but now they need to get Josh to hospital as soon as possible.

The problem with him is that he wasn't conscious

and he's been sick a lot so the worry is that if he's sick

and that can go down his airways, it can cause problems with his breathing

which is going to make any brain injury worse

so it's by far the safest way to transfer him,

especially in a helicopter.

As Josh takes off, it's a moment of relief

for the local paramedics who first responded to his accident.

It's quite reassuring cos you know he'll get to the right place faster

and he'll get treatment.

Especially at this time of day, it's rush hour, Traffic's really busy.

It would've been difficult to get him to the appropriate hospital in good time.

The emergency services left behind still have their jobs to do,

and for them, helping Josh's mother is top priority.

It were difficult.

She had to pass me the telephone to speak to her husband

because she couldn't get the words out, what had happened.

Which were quite upsetting to explain to him

what has just happened to his little boy.

Helimed 99, (INAUDIBLE) the LGI.

While Josh arrives by air, his father,

a long-distance lorry driver, is hundreds of miles away.

He is told Josh may not survive.

A police escort picks him up and brings him to be with his son.

They told us that they were going to have to take him down for an operation

and it was a life-saving operation, there was no question

that he had to have this. If he didn't, he'd die.

Surgeons removed a section of Josh's skull

to relieve the pressure on his brain.

They told us he might not get through the operation.

They told us if he got through the operation,

that he might be paralysed, he might be blind.

Um... And it's just the worst thing that any parent could be told.

But the main thing was getting him through the operation,

we just had to take one step at a time.

Two weeks later and with metal plates replacing parts of his skull,

Josh has made a remarkable recovery.

He's just doing absolutely amazing.

I think he's stunning the doctors, how quick he's coming on.

Aren't you?

I didn't look both ways, I only looked one.

I got hit by a car.

I could see him.

I can see the pictures there, I can see him looking right

and then it was too late.

He carried on walking instead of looking left.

And I split all my head open there. That was just a big scab.

Just the response of everybody was just amazing.

There was the doctors there in no time, there were ambulance,

there was the police and then there was the helicopter

all within the space of 10 minutes, maximum. Absolutely amazing.

-We can smile now, can't we?

-Yeah.

-Mm.

Three months later and the kids of Year Three

at Norris Thorpe School have their classmate back.

And I know that you were all really pleased to see him back in school.

-Let's all say welcome back to Joshua.

-KIDS: Welcome back, Joshua.

And it's no surprise road safety has been high on the learning list.

For Josh and his friends, a lesson learned the hard way.

You need to look and listen

and when you can't hear anything,

always look. If you can't see nowt, you can cross the road.

Look and listen.

Yorkshire's flying paramedics rarely spend more than an hour

with any patient but the treatment they give

can be the start of a recovery that can take a year or more.

A sunny summer's evening and the winding lanes of the Dales.

It's a combination that appeals to enthusiastic bikers,

but can be catastrophic when things go wrong.

-Head on.

-Right.

-He probably hit some of the tree.

It's all right-sided injuries. He's still bent in half.

The shattered remains of this motorbike tell a story,

a massive impact head-on with a car, body against metal.

Get a board out, Daz. We'll want to be fairly rapid with this.

The biker, Anthony Hatton, is virtually folded in half.

I haven't seen his pelvis yet

so I presume there's going to be some pelvis damage as well.

Fortunately for the biker one of the first people to

arrive on the lonely B-road near Hellifield was an off-duty nurse.

The right leg had gone over the shoulder and was leaning on

his chest and the left arm was quite sore, swollen and had gone blue.

You just do what you can do really and help in any way you can

but as soon as we arrived he was talking and breathing.

After he hit the car, witnesses say Anthony flew

30 metres through the air before hitting the road and some trees.

We were informed he'd come round a bend, hit the car head-on.

It looks like he's impacted with the trees. Debris all over the road.

Found the gentleman lying on the side at the road

with some quite horrific musculoskeletal injuries

and obvious fractures.

As well as his broken leg, paramedic Al Day suspects there could be

other life-threatening injuries.

Hello, Tony. You all right? We'll get you on the helicopter now.

We'll have you in hospital in Blackburn in 10/15 minutes, OK?

TONY MUMBLES

Andy, just in them drawers in front of you there,

to your right-hand side behind the seat, there's a SAM Splint.

Paramedic Darren rides motorbikes himself.

This is one of the worst accidents he's seen.

The witnesses to the smash didn't try and move the biker,

they just comforted him and kept him talking until paramedics arrived.

That was the right thing to do.

The lady that was involved in the accident, she phoned the ambulance.

Considering she was in the accident herself, she'd done really well.

Anthony has been conscious throughout.

He suddenly realises what's happened to his leg.

Bear with us.

-Is that my foot?

-Yeah.

-Bear with us. Do you think it's come over that way, or...?

Paramedic Al knows the biker's broken leg

-must be straightened before he can be put on the helicopter.

-Got any Entonox?

But there's a real danger that when they straighten it,

the main artery in his leg will start to bleed.

The massive loss of blood pressure could kill him.

We'll be on us way, mate, in a couple of minutes.

The winding lanes of the Dales are great for a bike ride out,

but when you're as critically injured as biker Anthony,

-they are your enemy.

-You what, buddy?

MUFFLED SPEECH

We are, mate.

It's a straight as we can make it and you can't move it again.

It would take an hour by road to get to a major hospital from here.

Feet first, then, people.

We've got a chappie for you, come off his motorbike head-on

into a car at high speed.

He's not haemodynamically stable, query pelvis.

Fractured right... Open fracture to his right femur,

query both lower legs.

ANTHONY: Please, my arm. Oh, God.

Right shoulder and right arm injuries

and he's vascular compromising his right arm.

Whether Anthony will recover from his injuries and walk again

is still in doubt, but he has arrived at the right place

and as quickly as possible.

-Please, my leg is just so sore.

-I know. Let's get you in.

-Take the weight off, and rest it there.

-Please help my hand.

We will do, mate.

After three weeks in intensive care in Blackburn

and still sedated, Anthony is transferred to Liverpool,

and into the hands of one of the UK's leading trauma surgeons.

It's his job to rebuild his shattered leg and shoulder.

What he suffered, he had these fractures

of the whole of the shoulder blade

but he also had an injury to the artery,

the main artery that supplies the arm.

He actually had a very serious injury to all the nerves that

supply the muscles of the arm. This is the most serious of his injuries.

He believes his job was made easier

by his patient's quick transfer to hospital by helicopter.

In the past there used to be a practice

between rescue teams on trying to stabilise patients more,

so spend time at the scene but my understanding

is now that the emphasis is on "scoop and run" as they call it

so they pick the patients and take them to hospital

as soon as possible.

I guess that's a big difference with him being airlifted.

Six weeks after his accident

and Anthony has only just come out of intensive care.

At the moment he can only use one arm,

and has to use a wheelchair but THIS is progress.

A lot of the recovery

from the main serious damages

was all while I was asleep.

So it's only like the operations I've had since I've woken up.

There's not been too many of those thankfully.

Anthony still has a long way still to go after this horrific crash,

but he is determined to get back on his feet as soon as he can

and is very grateful to be alive.

If it hadn't had been for them, I wouldn't be here now.

I would never have made it back in the ambulance.

I'd lost so much blood and there was so much damage at the time,

I wouldn't have got back.

And it wouldn't have been five-to-one against surviving,

I probably wouldn't have made it.

So I owe them everything. Everything.

More than a year on from his crash, Anthony is now back on his feet

but doctors have warned him he's likely to be living

with the effects of his injuries for life.

An accident can have a devastating effect on the victim's life.

From bankruptcy to divorce, the consequences can be life-changing

in ways few people expect.

It's midwinter in the Pennines and when a heavy snowfall

puts the skids under your car,

digging it out of the drifts is a daily chore. It's also hard work.

In the village of Crossflatts, a commuting couple's attempt

to get to work has had a terrible ending.

Helimed 99 is on the case.

The main casualty was a lady that was getting into the silver BMW

that's just been dug out from the side road

as another car's hit the back of her.

Passers by were helping Susan Hotchkiss and her partner Bill

free their hatchback from the snow

when another car skidded and collided

with the rear of their BMW.

We'd just dug them out, literally. She was walking up the lane to get in the car

when the car got struck from behind by the silver BM.

She'd just been into the boot

and she was walking around to the passenger seat.

-She was lucky cos she was at the rear of the car seconds before.

-Could've been a lot worse, really.

The impact threw Susan into the road.

She's badly hurt and, with her stunned partner,

is being examined in the back of an ambulance.

-Were you in't car at the time? Were you wearing a seatbelt?

-Yeah.

OK. How've you got this cut on your head? You'd hit the windscreen?

Susan and Bill were planning to get married.

Their wedding is only a week away, and in the Caribbean.

Obviously injuries, lower back pain. (INAUDIBLE) I'll give you some more.

Paramedic James Vine is amazed

at his patient's apparently miraculous escape.

She's been thrown approximately 10 feet.

At the moment just on a primary survey doesn't look like

she's got serious injuries but we'll err on the side of caution.

The heavy overnight snow has put the ambulance service

and hospital A&Es under severe pressure.

Just due to the mechanism, the speed she's been hit

and how far she's been thrown, we'd like to bring her to you.

The centre of Leeds has also been carpeted with snow.

The fire crew which mans the helipad on top of the LGI

has been out early to clear it ahead of Helimed 99.

The pain in your back, Sue, just so I know how far down it is, roughly.

-What are you saying, is it really low down?

-Yeah, to't bottom.

-And my bum.

-So your coccyx area?

-Yeah.

Bride-to-be Susan and Bill were busy planning their wedding

away from the British winter weather in the sunshine of Barbados.

Now all her plans may have to be put on hold.

Whether she makes it onto that plane for the Caribbean in a week's time

depends on the findings of the X-rays she's about to have

and how quickly she can recover from her injuries.

Susan misses her flight.

Her planned wedding day is spent in a hospital bed.

Several vertebra in her spine are crushed

and she spends months in a body brace before finally

she can stand up without it.

I was discharged about 10 days

and then I wore a brace for a good nine weeks, 10 weeks.

And it's going to be a slow process.

Even though the bones have healed and it's still going to need

lots of physio and work to get my body back to as it were, hopefully.

Susan and Bill had only moved in to their new house

a week before the accident. The building work can go ahead

but those Caribbean wedding plans are going to take a back seat

until Susan fully recovers and that's going to take time.

We'd just moved into the property that we're in now.

I thought I must go in to work that Friday cos the following Monday

I was flying to Barbados to get married

so that all has got to be reorganised

but as I say, at least I'm on the mend which is a good thing.

And eight months later and Susan and Bill managed to swap

the Pennine Hills for a Caribbean beach.

It's been a long road to recovery, but this is a day

that's been worth waiting for.

You can't put a price on the pain and inconvenience caused

by accidents like Susan's, although some injury lawyers will try.

But the mental trauma of a major accident

is often even more devastating.

Helimed 98 has been scrambled to a country road in West Yorkshire.

There's been a serious accident.

A horse has been killed and its rider badly injured.

Are you concerned about that pelvis enough for a pelvic splint?

-If you've got a splint and we can get it on.

-Yeah.

Dr Alison Walker is the Helimed team's medical director

and she's already examined the patient.

This lady's obviously been hit from behind whilst on a horse

and she got thrown off.

I'm concerned she's got injuries to the right side of the chest.

Right shoulder and right hip or pelvis so we're just going to fly her into Leeds.

Angela Naylor has survived two major impacts.

The first, when a car hit her horse. The second, when she hit the ground.

Horse versus car or vehicle incidents are not that common

but when they occur, can be very serious.

Right, Ange, my name's Glen

and I'm just going to pop a little tourniquet round this hand.

-Is that pain still a nine out of 10 on that right side?

-Yeah.

-OK, luvvy.

Let's see if we can do something to make that a little better then.

Angela's an experienced horsewoman. She was riding along

the lane near her home in the pit village

of Allerton Bywater when the accident happened.

Angela wears all the luminous things, everything. Just...

You know what I mean, you can't miss her really.

It's not the first incident to happen here.

I don't know how it happened but they do come fast down this road.

A local vet was called to treat Angela's horse

but its leg was too badly broken and it had to be put down.

We maybe see one or two like this every year

where horses are hit by cars and fatally injured.

I think the take-home message for people is to

be aware when they're driving down country lanes.

You may well encounter a horse round a bend so they should

please try and slow down and take that into consideration.

Since you've been in ours and the ambulance company,

-have you had any pins and needles develop anywhere?

-No.

-You've had a pain develop in your chest.

-Yeah.

Is that a new onset in the last 10/15 minutes?

-It happened when I first landed which I thought was winding.

-Right.

Then it eased a bit but now it's come back.

And it's a pain that is made worse by you breathing?

-Yeah.

-OK, is it like a sharp, stabbing pain?

-Yeah.

-OK.

OK, clear on the left. (INAUDIBLE)

Angela's pain is worrying.

Paramedic Glen is concerned it could be a symptom of a spinal injury,

a common and potentially lethal effect of a fall from a horse.

One study suggested riders are 20 times more likely

to be injured in an accident than motorcyclists.

-16 hands though, that's a big horse.

-It IS a big horse.

She could well have a spinal compression.

At Leeds General Infirmary doctors are waiting to X-ray Angela's back.

I'll be with you all't way into the hospital, OK. My name's Glen again.

The car has taken the horse out from underneath her

and she's come crashing to the ground

and sustained a nasty hip injury.

Query, maybe she's fractured her hip there or her pelvis

and her clavicle as well on the right side so all the injury's

been taken down her right and hopefully

we've got to here to the LGI and we can get her on the mend quickly.

Lee is right - Angela's injuries are extensive and serious.

We're just going down the slope now down into the department.

We'll be inside in a minute or two.

X-rays will confirm that Angela's pelvis is broken in three places.

She's fractured a vertebra in her spine

and she's cracked three ribs and her collar bone.

It's the beginning of a long and painful road to recovery.

It's several weeks before she's fit to leave hospital.

And a year to the day after her fall, she's still unable to ride,

thanks to a catalogue of injuries that could've killed her.

Broken collarbone,

two broken ribs. Broke my pelvis in three places.

I've got a screw in for that now.

And fractured one of my vertebrae at the bottom of my spine.

Both Angela and her riding companion were also left

with mental scars of an accident that should not have happened.

'My friends understand how long it takes.

'But I think strangers think,

"Oh, she'll get over it a bit quicker."

'And that does help, to talk to somebody'

and just get it out so it's not all bottled up.

'She spent ages in hospital and when she came out of hospital,

'she was in a wheelchair and that and I think she's done amazing to get back to where she is.'

She's just been so headstrong. She's been absolutely brilliant.

I've not been on a horse yet and it's a year to't day

but I can be round horses now so that doesn't upset me as much.

But I've kept my stable on

with the hope that I will be getting another horse.

The people still recovering long after their injures there

but in one case today, the survival of one of the team's patients

is still in real doubt.

As Helimed 99 returns to base,

a long battle is beginning in the Leeds General Infirmary.

Cardiologists are fighting to save the life of Owen Grimley

who collapsed in his gym.

They've inserted an electronic pump into his main artery

in the hope of helping his ailing heart.

At 74, his age is against him but his fitness proves crucial.

By the end of the week he's well enough to receive visitors -

his relieved wife and daughter.

Oh, that's really, really nice.

Owen was on his daily visit to the gym for a gentle workout

when he collapsed.

As far as I know, I walked a mile at a very slow speed.

I never get up above three miles an hour.

But I don't remember much more after that. Over I went, banged my head,

burned my knees and finished up two days later coming round in hospital.

Owen's survival is all the more remarkable in that he happened

to collapse yards from one of the only three defibrillators

in the town of Selby - population, 13,000.

If it had happened outside

of this gym or even if

he was just in Selby doing a bit of shopping, God forbid,

he probably wouldn't even have survived the heart attack

due to us having a defib. It was a definite plus side

to helping him come round.

-Breathing in, breathing out, how's that?

-Good.

-OK?

'My wife told me that the team at the gym were unbelievable.'

It was just like a machine.

They closed the gym down and the machine kicked into place

and just saved my life.

It is very rewarding that we've managed to save someone's life.

We've actually brought them back from the dead, as such.

I can't express...

I was a dead man and they just saved my life.

They saved my life.

I died and they brought me back again.

I'm looking forward to seeing Owen. A little bit apprehensive

but I'm really pleased that he's back on his feet

and he's able to get about and come in and see us

so, yeah, looking forward to it.

I've come here to meet everybody that was involved on the day.

If you're going to have a heart attack, this is the place to do it.

-Boo!

-THEY LAUGH

-Are you all right, Owen?

-Hi, Owen.

-I'm brilliant, how are you?

-Not bad, yourself?

-Hi, Owen.

-THEY KISS

-Oh, it's lovely to see you.

-And you.

-You're looking really well.

-Do you think so?

Yeah. You look very smart.

I've even brought my hat!

-It's raining outside.

-Is it? Oh, right.

-Yeah.

-It wasn't at half five this morning.

-You look very well.

-How are you feeling?

-100%.

And you'll be pleased to hear Owen's gym class heroes

are now using their experience

to help train their colleagues in first aid.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd