Episode 15 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?'

-'Stuck under the car.'

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance flies at 150 miles an hour,

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!'

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

turning roadsides into operating theatres...

'We're going to put him to sleep with an emergency anaesthetic.'

..and town centres into helipads.

-'Building on the left?'

-'Just behind you.'

And every day, the helimed team's skill, speed and courage

is saving lives.

Today on Helicopter Heroes...

..an elderly walker is badly hurt

in one of Yorkshire's most rugged landscapes...

She slipped on a rock, fell down and gashed her forehead.

..this patient's just gone into cardiac arrest.

Can the team save him?

High in the Pennines, two bikers are seriously injured...

This other lad has run over his legs. Couldn't miss him.

..and the building worker

who accidentally sprayed himself with concrete.

It just burns? Yeah, all right.

The Yorkshire Dales is one of the UK's best-loved landscapes.

This is Malham Cove.

It used to be a waterfall higher than Niagara Falls.

The prehistoric river that flowed over this cliff has now vanished,

but the limestone scenery its waters left behind

still attracts thousands of tourists every day.

When Malham's waters dried up,

they left behind these unusual rock formations.

The limestone pavement is a rare phenomenon

that's one of the Dales' most popular attractions.

What are they saying about the patient, Daz?

Been unconscious, now conscious. Head injury, fractured wrist.

-I thought it said 80, originally.

-Yeah.

I wonder why an 80-year-old would be at Malham Cove.

For proud Yorkshireman Darren Axe,

this is a landscape that's close to his heart.

You don't need a map for Malham Cove, then?

-Are you all right without a map?

-Yeah.

-You can see it from space probably, can't you?

-Yeah.

It's a popular beauty spot.

One of the best ones in the Yorkshire Dales.

We get lots of visitors here in the summer months.

They know that below them,

an 80-year-old grandmother desperately needs their help.

But with so many visitors exploring up here,

finding their patient is far from straightforward.

-There's a couple of people there, look.

-Where are you looking?

-Right on top, in the middle?

-Yeah, on the top in the middle.

The rugged landscape of the limestone pavement

attracts the young and the adventurous,

but this is the patient's grandson.

Hello. We nearly left you.

Hello.

How are we doing?

What's been happening? Oh, dear.

Joan Bell and her husband Ronald are both in their 80s,

but were still keen to explore this rugged environment.

Well, she slipped on a rock, fell down and gashed her forehead

and we think she may have broken her wrist.

-So, walking along...

-Slipped.

-..slipped, fallen?

Hit my head on a rock.

Right, you've not gone dizzy or anything?

-You've just slipped and fallen, yeah?

-No, I can see everything.

-All right.

-What do we call you?

-Joan. And I'm 80 years old.

80 years young?

-Yeah.

-Wonderful.

So, with Darren now finally by his badly injured patient's side,

it's time for the helicopter to join them.

That'll clear the sheep out, won't it?

-What are you thinking, then? The green bit?

-Yeah.

-The side of that boulder there.

-The boulder, yeah.

The downdraft is powerful enough

to blow people off their feet...

..so Darren makes a human shield to protect his patient.

Looks good my side, Mark.

There's no boulders that I can see.

I'm just going to have a little feel at the back of your neck.

-You're warm?

-Yes.

And bloody!

Joan fell head first onto these sharp rocks

and the blood is still flowing from her head.

They wanted to have a look at the pavement,

the limestone pavement.

We went the shortest way and she just...

missed her footing, I suppose,

and slipped.

I contribute to the North East Air Ambulance.

North East?

You're not North East, are you?

No, you'll have to change your allegiance.

I'm just going to have a little look at your head.

It's a wound which paramedics call full thickness.

It means Darren can see straight through to Joan's skull.

Joan has lost a lot of blood.

Oh, flipping heck!

At 80, Joan's body is less able

to cope with serious trauma like this

and Darren knows that with such a massive head injury

it's only a matter of time before she becomes unconscious.

Keep fit, eat healthily and don't smoke.

We all know the things we should be doing to avoid a heart attack.

But there's something none of us can change.

Your genes are one of the biggest factors determining

whether you'll have heart disease.

And today in South Yorkshire,

Helimed 99's flying to the rescue of one patient

whose family is well aware of that fact.

We've had a crew request.

They're on scene with a patient

who's been identified as having a heart attack.

So, they're preparing the patient as we speak.

They've got authorisation to Northern General.

We'll land on and get the patient into hospital quickly.

-What is the pain like at the moment?

-What are you, mate?

-7/10 a minute ago. He's just had...

-Whoa! Tell me you're lifting.

Fifty-year-old Mark Butterly has no history of heart disease,

but he lives with his twin who has had several heart attacks.

And heart disease sometimes runs in families.

Mark is also a heavy smoker.

The scrubland next to where the brothers live

has proved to be a handy landing pad,

but it's not to pilot Steve's liking.

There's quite a lot of rubbish here,

cardboard and plastic

and things that could get blown up into the rotors

or into the engine, so we'll just give it

a quick clean before we take off to make sure it's safe for us.

Just hunch yourself down a little bit.

Right, stay as you are.

We'll put the back rest up to you.

We'll quickly get some monitoring on you.

We'll be two minutes and then we'll be taking off, all right?

-Right, we'll get out of the road.

-Thanks very much.

-See you, mate.

-Cheers.

This is a regular mission for the helimed team,

transferring a patient for angioplasty,

a procedure to clear out blocked arteries in the heart.

They'll take Mark to Sheffield.

Paramedic Pete Vallance's job is to monitor his patient closely,

watching for changes to his condition.

Blue sheet, it's got little carry handles on it...

Mark is on the last leg of his journey to the heart specialist.

All is going well,

until this.

OK, off. Everybody off!

Mark has gone into cardiac arrest.

Straight back on again.

It's all right, Mark. Don't worry!

Mark is in the throes of a massive heart attack...

just 200 metres from the waiting cardiac specialists.

If the team can't restore a normal rhythm,

it might as well be 200 miles.

The UK is covered by 29 air ambulances.

All, except those in Scotland, are funded by local charities.

But sometimes a case is so serious

that two are needed at the same accident.

The bleak moors of the Pennines look very remote.

It's hard to believe that these empty roads are just a few miles

from the big towns of Blackburn, Bolton, Oldham and Rochdale.

It means they're very popular with local bikers.

But when things go wrong up here, help can be a long time coming.

I think the location is just a bit further towards Denshaw.

-It's the road just the other side of this camp.

-OK.

-That one.

The accident has happened on the highest spot on the Pennine Moors.

Looks like it's on the junction of these two roads somewhere.

Pilot Tim Taylor is going to have his work cut out.

The near side looks the flattest.

Landing a helicopter on this steep incline is tricky.

To your right, to your left. This is the best one. Come forward a touch.

-Two casualties.

-OK.

-This is Richard.

-All right.

-Coming down the road in two groups, not together.

-MAN GROANS IN PAIN

-One's lost control

-and the bike slipped and skidded into the other one.

-OK.

It's unusual to have two bikers injured in one accident.

Paramedics James Vine and Lee Davison will each care for one patient.

Lee's is the most seriously hurt.

Nice and steady, buddy, nice and steady.

46-year-old Richard Dyson's leg injuries are very serious.

Both are broken.

And Lee thinks he could have a fractured pelvis as well.

This yellow bike that's in the field here

was coming around the bend and he's lost it on the bend

and the rider slid down the road.

This other lad was coming in the opposite direction

and he's run over his legs. Couldn't miss him.

Deep breath for me.

OK.

Friends called Richard's partner, Lesley, to the scene.

-Where's your pain at the moment?

-Left leg, right ankle.

OK. All right.

It turns out Richard was riding Lesley's bike.

He was just trying it out.

When I saw him slide off, I knew there were a lot of lads behind me

and I thought, I hope he don't hit any of our crew.

I thought we'd better have an ambulance

so I rang 999 straightaway.

Ambulances are thin on the ground up here.

The North West Air Ambulance from Manchester has been sent to help.

Hi, how we doing? James. We're going to be taking this one.

The other one's an isolated ankle.

You haven't got any long leg splints, have you?

James's patient has a broken ankle.

It's very painful but not serious. He's going to be driven to hospital.

He's done really well. The bike's come underneath my gentleman

and he's been thrown up in the air so he's missed a lot of the impact.

It looks like it's an isolated ankle at the moment.

Straightening Richard's bent and broken legs will hurt

-but it has to be done.

-Take a deep breath.

Just your left leg, slowly.

-Good lad. That's excellent.

-Keep breathing.

It looks like he might have done his femur.

Bikers look after each other.

They share a passion for a hobby they know can be very dangerous.

Query pelvis and left neck of femur

and obvious deformities to bilateral tib and fib.

You've got some lower leg fractures, all right?

You've done your hip, all right, the long bone,

but you've definitely got some ankle fractures.

Richard's flown to the Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester.

It's a short flight but his leg injuries are very serious.

His broken thighbone alone could prove fatal.

Coming, keep coming.

Hello. We're just going to get you into a warm area, OK?

X-rays will determine how long his recovery will take.

Can you put me through to A&E, please, to the nurses' station?

Paramedic Lee Davison likes to keep track of his patients' progress.

Hi, sorry to bother you. It's Lee from the air ambulance.

Hiya. I'm just ringing to see what that guy's injuries were.

And back at base he's soon on the phone to find out

the result of those X-rays.

Femur left, tib left, right ankle dislocation and right tib.

Yeah, not good. Not good but hopefully he'll make a recovery from that.

During the following days Richard has several appointments

with Wythenshawe Hospital's orthopaedic surgeons

and a number of operations to save his shattered legs.

And a week later Richard's recovery is just beginning.

I looked up because we were on a bit of a slope,

I looked up and saw my legs looked like some were pointing this way

and some were pointing that way. All mangled up.

I thought, don't want to swear but, what the hell have I done to myself?

He has countless broken bones held together with nuts, bolts

and titanium plates.

His partner, Lesley, knows he's lucky to be alive.

As I was asking towards I saw the yellow bike in the ditch

so I knew it were mine.

As I knelt down to him the first thing he said was,

"Sorry about your bike".

I'm saying never mind the bike, it's you that matters not the bike.

I'd rather the bike be trashed and you still here than other way round.

Richard's going to spend the next six weeks with his feet up

but he knows it could have been a lot worse

without the help of the helimed team.

To him, Lee and James are superheroes.

Two guys got to me with big bags and they jumped out like Batman and Robin had turned up.

They got straight into it and sorted me out.

It's going to be a long job.

Yorkshire's rocks were created even before the dinosaurs walked the earth.

They were carved into these shapes by glaciers melting

during the last Ice Age.

Today they still present a major challenge

for the modern emergency services.

What's this pain?

Yeah.

If ten's very bad and zero is none.

Eight. She's feisty, isn't she, eight and not complaining?

If that was me I'd be squealing me head off.

High above one of Yorkshire's most striking landmarks

retired art teacher Joan Bell has had a serious accident.

I'm coming up to 83 and my wife's 80.

And, erm, we manage quite well but it's just one of those things.

It happens.

Her head wound is continuing to bleed

but that's not her only injury.

While he's sorting your head can I have a look at your wrist?

-Ouch.

-Sorry, sweet.

Right, you can rest your head back down again now.

That's wonderful.

-Whereabouts is it hurting you? In the middle?

-Mainly from here.

I don't want to pull this jacket up, would I be all right to cut that?

-No.

-That's going to be painful.

-It's going to be difficult, love.

We can replace tops, can't we? We can't replace arms. OK?

The local Cave Rescue team has been called out to help

the air ambulance crew.

Its members are used to serious accidents

on the unforgiving rocks above Malham Cove.

Ready, steady, roll.

Oh, your head.

We were just having a walk down to the cove and Joan slipped and fell

and hurt her head and her arm.

My mum trained as a nurse so I let her take the lead.

We were just keeping her still and keeping her calm

and then rang for the ambulance.

Ready, steady, lift.

Joan will fly, Cave Rescue will drive her family.

We're often left with relatives quite shocked by the incident

who are left stranded in a remote location.

So, it's not just the casualty we're concerned with,

it's the overall party.

So we're going to give two a lift to their vehicle.

A bit more.

Lovely. She's good at that.

-Where am I going?

-Where you going? We're just going to check now.

The deep gash in Joan's head is still bleeding.

I'm sorry, Joan, but I need to stop this bleeding on your head.

This is now the third dressing Darren has applied.

It's a worrying sign so now what Joan needs is speed.

OK, I'm just going to go forward over the edge there.

-That kite isn't flying now, back to my right.

-OK.

-One three zero.

-Cheers.

She's gone down with quite a bang.

She's got quite a significant laceration.

She's obviously elderly and she's got some underlying conditions

which are of concern to us.

She had a lowered level of consciousness after banging her head

which is also a concern.

If you bang your head hard enough to knock yourself out that's a significant impact.

Joan's now minutes from treatment

but the team's about to receive a serious setback.

Roger nine nine.

I've referred this to LGI but the consultant's not happy.

The regional trauma centre in Leeds is not going to accept Joan.

What's nearest now? Ask him what's nearest to us.

I think it'll be Harrogate now.

We've been unable to take Joan to the major trauma centre

for our region which is the LGI.

We've been diverted into Harrogate which...

Harrogate is a good hospital

but we would have preferred to take her to the MTC.

We've not been able to do that.

We'll get her the care she needs at a different facility.

We're letting down in Harrogate.

Even though the NHS is a national health service,

hospitals are wary about accepting patients from outside

their catchment areas because of the costs involved.

Joan's just found this out to her cost.

But in the next few minutes doctors here in Harrogate

will discover how serious her head injury is.

Back to Helimed 99 now

and the paramedics have a difficult case on their hands.

Can I have a pulse check? Can I have a pulse check?

We've got some activity.

Fifty-year-old Mark Butterly is having a heart attack

on the landing pad of Sheffield's Northern General hospital.

Open your eyes for me, Mark. Well done.

Mark is actually conscious, his eyes are open,

he's even talking quietly yet his heart is fighting a losing battle

-to continue beating.

-We're going uphill.

This is very rare.

Take a deep breath, really big. Really deep breath.

On the way, he has another cardiac arrest.

Oxygen all right.

Well done, Mark.

I know it's scary, boss.

At that stage he was still actually talking to us as he went into VF.

We started CPR, one quick shock and again resumed normal circulation.

-The doctor's here.

-Hello.

We've put a tube in your heart to see where the blockage is

and try to unblock it.

They'd found a large blockage in one of his coronary arteries.

That's the reason why we brought him here

rather than to one of the local district general hospitals.

Half an hour ago he was at home with his brother,

now Mark is in an operating theatre

having the blockage in an artery cleared.

An extraordinary sequence of events got him here

but his life is still in the balance.

He spends several days in the Northern General's cardiac unit

but incredibly, a week later Mark is on the mend,

well aware that he has been given a second chance.

I can't remember landing in Sheffield.

I must have passed out.

The next thing I remember

is laying on the table, doctor walking past me and, erm,

said hello, who he was.

And I said to him, "Am I going to die, Doctor?"

He says, "I don't know."

And the next thing...

..this nurse whispered in my ear, "Nobody's died on his watch yet."

So, that were a relief!

Mark knew the risk of him having a heart attack was high.

My immediate family, everyone has had a heart attack.

My brother's had five heart attacks, who's me twin.

My father's had a heart attack, my mother had a heart attack

so it definitely runs in the family.

Mark's now determined to give up smoking

and to lead a healthier lifestyle.

He thanks his brother for warning him

how serious chest pains can be

and the helimed team for shocking him back to life.

It just doesn't seem real, like you can be brought back.

Just doesn't.

Building workers wear hard hats and high-vis vests for a reason.

Their industry kills one person a week on average

and dozens more end up in hospital.

Construction's a simple business.

With concrete and steel, you can build virtually anything

but today in East Yorkshire, there's been an unusual site accident.

A man spraying concrete under pressure has been badly injured.

Park in the field. That's where he wants us to land. Turning left.

The team's patient was helping build an extension

to this huge glass factory near the port town of Goole.

The trouble is, so many builders are at work here,

they don't know which gang needs help.

They're waving us off, guys. They're saying it's over there.

You've got wires in the way.

-Why was he standing in the middle of the field then?

-They're pointing.

Nobody's giving any indication at all here.

There's lots of pallets and stuff here.

If we land in there, that's going to start blowing around.

The ladder will go over as well.

Sammy Wills is off to find the patient.

There you go, clear and out, all about.

We asked for somebody with a high-vis jacket to show us where to land

and if you look around you, there's about 100 high-vis jackets.

We had no idea where to land!

-Hello, sir.

-This is Mick.

-Hello, Mick.

He's been concreting round here

-and the piping has taken his feet from underneath him.

-Hello, Mick.

-He's got severe c-spine, severe spinal back tenderness.

-OK.

Mick Poole was jetting concrete when the high-pressure hose

he was using was wrenched from his hand.

It then covered him from head to foot in wet concrete.

His workmates quickly stripped off his overalls,

but his hair and face are coated.

You've got concrete dust around your eyes. Has this got lime in it? Yeah?

-What I want to do is just wipe it as best I can.

-It just burns.

-All right.

Concrete is corrosive when wet. It's very alkaline

and it's burning Mick's skin, but the pain in his eyes is worse.

Closed.

Keep them closed again, boss.

That's a one-wipe wonder for each eye.

There's no time to waste.

They're driving Mick to the chopper.

Their patient's eyes badly need flushing out.

Concrete generates heat and it can cause permanent eye damage.

That's it, guys, we're going towards the toes, to where my colleague is.

And we'll try and get in before the rain.

Mick's about to take off for Leeds General Infirmary.

Ophthalmologists have already been put on standby to examine his eyes.

There's a real possibility this accident could damage his eyesight.

-How are your eyes feeling now?

-Better now.

-A bit better? Good.

-Anything else burning?

-No.

Up and right.

Doncaster radar, hello again. Helimed 99 out, over.

We'll be staying low level due to the weather

and we're routing to the LGI.

Not only is Mick worried about his eyes,

but he's in serious pain from his back.

The concrete jet lifted him off his feet

and the impact with the factory floor could have damaged his spine.

X-rays will soon reveal the truth.

And it's good news.

Not only do doctors at the LGI find his back is just bruised,

but his eyes soon recover and within days, he's back home.

I were just covered from head to foot in concrete.

One of the lads got a bucket of water and washed me all down.

They were cleaning my face as best they could.

I was full of concrete from head to foot.

They just washed me all down. I can't thank them enough.

I were that frightened that I were going to end up in a wheelchair.

When I got to hospital and I eventually got on my feet,

I thought, "Great stuff."

Site safety is the number one priority for most builders.

It has to be.

Not only are lives at stake, but health and safety officials

won't hesitate to prosecute any employer who bends the rules,

but some accidents are unpredictable, to say the least.

If we follow to the roundabout, it's a leisure-centre-cum-school complex.

Helimed 99 is on its way to a building site in West Yorkshire.

A two-tonne dumper truck

has driven over one of the construction workers.

Can you have a look behind me? Can you see the tail, or not?

There are plenty of hazards on the site for pilot Andy Lister

to avoid as well.

It's a bit sloping. Think we'll be all right. I'll put it down here.

Amazingly, having had the full weight of the vehicle run over him,

builder John Pape got straight up.

But the tyre track on his back shows what happened.

-Have you any pain in your neck?

-No, not at the minute.

-Did it move your neck at all?

-I can't tell you.

My ribs are hurting a bit. It's gone over my right side.

-Leg first.

-Your right ankle.

Despite seeming OK,

the two paramedics are taking no chances with their patient.

Serious crush injuries can be deceptive and deadly.

We're still very suspicious

because the full weight has gone over the top of him,

which is how he describes it, and he's got markings on his back.

Just because he's stood doesn't mean he hasn't done some serious damage.

-We're going to play it safe.

-How severe is the pain out of ten?

Imagine somebody has given you a good whack in the back.

Same on the hip. It's not severe.

I'm a bit short of breath but it's not severe.

-Out of ten, could you give it a score out of ten?

-Four.

John's been walking around since the accident. Not any more.

Because a back or neck injury can't be ruled out,

he'll be taking his flight to hospital lying down.

-That right ankle is hurting him.

-Is it? Your right ankle? This one?

-Can you wiggle your toes?

-Yeah, fine.

-I think we'll leave them as they are.

On move, then. Ready, steady, move.

Watch your backs.

The front of the truck has gone over his lower body, his leg,

his right ankle

and the other end of the truck has gone over his torso.

-It went over the lot.

-So you were laid lengthways?

-Yeah.

You're changing your tale now.

Never trust a patient.

The nearest hospital to the building site

is the Leeds General Infirmary.

John is a big man and the hospital team wants to rule out

internal injuries.

An ultrasound scanner is being used to look for damage

in his abdomen.

Few people escape unhurt from an accident like his.

The tests prove inconclusive

but after an evening in hospital and more scans,

John is sent home battered and bruised,

but soon back at work and keeping a watchful eye out

for two-tonne dumper trucks.

John fell victim to one of the biggest causes

of building accidents, machinery.

But there's an even bigger danger on site and that's gravity.

The statistics have a top ten for the causes of site accidents

and today's patient has had the most common of them all.

He's fallen from a new floor under construction

in this office building.

He's fallen through a roof back there,

about 12 to 15 feet onto concrete.

The accident has shocked his colleagues,

who found him surrounded by debris.

Just a scream. That's all we heard. Heard it twice.

Andy, obviously, working on this building site,

has fallen through the roof of the first floor onto the rubble.

All kind of tin things and debris underneath him.

-Leave him with you now?

-Yeah, thanks very much, mate.

Andy, have you got any pain where I press?

-You feel me touching you there?

-Yeah.

-And there?

-Yeah.

-Feels the same both sides.

-Yeah.

Paramedic Sam Burgess is an Army reservist.

He's worked in Afghanistan.

But the paramedics first called to this accident

had to take some risks too.

It was quite dangerous.

There were things falling through from the first floor.

The first priority was to move him somewhere safe so we could

deal with him, because he wasn't co-operating with us, to be honest.

He wasn't lying still.

The ambulance service's HART rescue team has been called to the scene,

but thanks to the paramedics and Andy's workmates,

it's not going to be needed.

99, Roger, can you stand HART down, please?

Patient is extricated and on an extrication board now.

They're not required, over.

Most members of the helimed team have been to fatal accidents

on building sites and they treat all patients

who've fallen more than ten feet with extreme caution.

Serious injuries, especially to the head,

can have few symptoms at first.

Doesn't seem to be doing too badly.

He's complaining of some pain down his right-hand side,

so potentially he's some chest injuries

and he's got a nasty soft-tissue laceration to his head.

From the height that he's fallen,

he seems to have got away with it quite lightly,

but we're going to fly him to the LGI, they can do some scans

and some more in-depth stuff and take it from there, really.

Sam's optimism won't make any difference to the precautions

the team will take.

Andy will remain immobilised

until he arrives at Leeds General Infirmary.

We're going to get you across to the helicopter,

get you settled and comfortable on there

and then we'll get you some more painkillers sorted out. All right?

Helimed 99, over. Can we get the OK, please?

With head injuries, there's always potential

there could be something more serious like a slow bleed there.

At the moment, there's nothing to suggest that.

All the results are stable, there's nothing that we can find

on examination to suggest a head injury.

However, as with all these things,

the best place to be is at a trauma centre

so they can do any appropriate tests

to determine what has actually happened.

Hopefully, he'll be discharged with no residual deficits.

Helimed 99 approaching the LGI for landing.

Doctors discover Andy's injuries are much worse than first thought.

He has a depressed skull fracture,

potentially a very serious injury.

Compound fracture of the skull, compound fracture of the shoulder,

eight broken ribs down my back which makes it really awkward to breathe.

Andy now has a hole in his skull and a long recovery ahead of him.

The bone on the compound fractures had pushed through into my brain.

They had to cut it all out, take the broken bone out and leave it open.

They said that'll heal up in the next nine or ten months on its own.

They won't want to touch it.

Andy also has severe injuries

to a finger which will require plastic surgery and

he has clear memories of the freak accident that almost killed him.

It was the steel sheeting.

As I was chopping it off, it swung round underneath

and it hooked onto the end of my steel-toecap boots

and it dragged my boot off the edge.

I just went with it.

Then I hit the girders at the bottom and that's when the lights went out.

Believe it or not, there is actually a top ten list

of most dangerous power tools and behind the circular saws,

coming in at number three, is the angle grinder.

Builders rely on them.

They can cut through stone, metal and concrete

and just about any part of the human anatomy they come into contact with.

In the North Yorkshire market town of Pickering,

a builder is in trouble.

Jonathan Berry was using an angle grinder to cut through metal

when it kicked back and sliced into his arm.

He was losing blood so quickly, workmates drove him

to a nearby doctor's surgery.

-98 receiving.

-98, go ahead.

98, I've just spoken to the crew that's still at the doctor's surgery.

They can't stop the bleeding.

I think they're going to get the patient on any second and come round.

Pilot Tim is going to land on the only available bit of open land,

Pickering Town's football pitch.

Fortunately, the paramedics

have managed to stem the bleeding for now.

What's he done?

He's got a four-inch angle grinder, cutting disc on it

cutting some tube, it's kicked back.

Brachial artery.

They have used a material called Celox which was developed

for military casualties.

It's only used in desperate situations.

When it comes into contact with blood,

it swells up to form a clot which rapidly stops bleeding.

It now looks like the bleeding is under control.

That was a major concern. It is very deep and it's arterial.

We've got him stable and we'll just take him along to hospital.

Jonathan has been given pain relief

and a drip is now replacing some of his lost fluid.

Gone straight through his brachial archery.

He's got Celox in and a tourniquet, times noted down.

GP's got a line in, he's had pain relief.

His pain has come down from seven to a three now.

Is it below his elbow?

Right on here, right across his brachial. Right across it.

Despite his ordeal, he is in good spirits.

-The angle grinder bites back, hey?

-Certainly did.

Saves you shaving your armpits.

Having only just escaped losing his arm,

he's now comfortable enough to focus on a more minor complaint.

-I've got an itchy nose.

-Whereabouts?

-On the end.

Sorry.

Jonathan is flown to James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough.

He has several operations on his badly damaged arm,

but he will need a lot of physiotherapy

before he can return to the site.

The builders hurt at work there. Thankfully, all are recovering well.

Now, 80-year-old Joan Bell's fall on the limestone pavement

of the Yorkshire Dales left her with serious injuries

and in Harrogate Hospital, her condition isn't good.

This is Joan, she's 80 years young.

She's slipped on some rocks and banged her head.

She's got quite a significant laceration from here,

riding up to the top of her head, approximately six to eight inches long

which is gaped and full thickness down to the bone beneath.

We've got a significant amount of blood loss from this head wound

and that's the third dressing over the top of the other two.

X-rays will soon determine how serious Joan's head injury is.

But over the next two days, her condition deteriorates.

It's discovered she's blind.

Swelling around her eyes appears to be the cause

but it's a worrying time for her husband, Ronald.

I thought she wasn't my wife at all

because she certainly didn't look like it.

I got quite a shock, really.

-This on your left arm.

-Thank you.

This is going to go on this finger on your right hand.

The head injury has left Joan with badly bruised

and swollen eyes, meaning she can no longer see.

-Can you feel me touching them all?

-Yes.

But she still remembers that trip to Malham clear as day.

My aim was to go to the limestone pavement.

We managed to get there all right, without too much difficulty.

Got within a few yards within sight

and then I saw a little scene that I wanted to photograph.

I said, "Oh, I'll just go and photograph that." That was it.

I never got the photograph.

I tripped on a stone and went crashing down to the ground

and hit my head on another stone.

As soon as I saw the blood,

I knew it was serious because there was a lot of it.

I put my hand up to my head here, like that,

and I felt what I thought was the skin rolling off my forehead.

I suppose it must have been the blood.

I understand that head injuries are very serious.

I'm lying there thinking, "I hope my brains are not coming out."

But then, Joan makes an incredible recovery.

-Oh, you can see.

-My eye just opened.

-Wow!

We could do with bathing that one a little bit

and I reckon you'll be able to see out of that one too.

I just opened my eye. I can see people that I hadn't seen before.

Wow! I'm just going to shine a light in your eye a second.

That's lovely.

I reckon if we give that one a good bathe,

-you'll be able to see out of that one too.

-Yes.

A few weeks later, Joan's home and recovering

and the accident hasn't prevented her pursuing her favourite hobby,

even if her right arm is broken.

But this landscape painter also loves to see her subject.

We like to get out, but I feel now I may have lost a bit of confidence.

I'll struggle and I'll get it back again.

I'll try again.

I'm not going to give up.

Joan is now fit to enjoy outings with her grandchildren again

and she's not allowing the accident to curb her love

for the great outdoors.