Episode 25 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 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, mate!

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

turning roadsides into operating theatres.

We're going to pop him off to sleep with emergency anaesthetic, OK?

And town centres into helipads.

-Still good 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 -

Repairs to historic York leave a quarry worker fighting for his life.

Bah, lad, you've picked a mucky site, haven't you?

The biker who did this to a van

gets some advice from paramedic Darren.

If you'd have had some gear on, you might not have got badly injured.

A gardener is hurt by a branch he felled himself.

The branch went, hit the ladders, took him out of the tree.

And a rugby tackle goes horribly wrong.

I heard a massive, like, crunchy noise,

and then pain before I had even hit the floor.

Some of Britain's most famous landmarks have been carved

out of Yorkshire's landscape.

From the Houses of Parliament to our finest cathedrals,

Yorkstone is highly prized.

But quarrying it is a risky business.

Since medieval stonemasons started work on York's spectacular minster

1,000 years ago, nature has been slowly dissolving it.

Rain, frost, and pollution, all eat into Yorkstone buildings,

which means skilled craftsmen are still at work replacing

worn-out walls, crumbling mouldings, and eroded statues.

Much of it comes from this quarry, where today,

there has been a serious accident.

Right, guys. He's fallen a long way there.

-Where is he?

-On the right. Can you see the... Have you got him?

-Yeah.

At the bottom of the quarry, a man is critically injured

and pilot Chris Attrill must land in it.

This could be a case of putting us down on the right

-as we look at the quarry.

-Look at that scoop, mate.

-Put you down alongside... See the scoop to the right?

-Yeah.

I'll put you to the right of that.

Just be aware, guys, you're going to have water right underneath you.

Helimed 98's rotor blades are feet from the sides of the quarry.

The downwash from the chopper is making it very hard to control.

-It's good there.

-IFR.

And we're down. Fabulous.

But Chris wants reassurance that the skids are on firm ground.

Stay connected. Just have a quick look underneath for us please, mate.

-You all right, mate?

-Yep. You're clear underneath.

-OK, good.

Close it down.

It's not just the crew that's relieved Helimed 98 is down.

Just need to give you a once over,

make sure you've not done anything too serious, all right?

-You've come from down there, have you?

-Shortcut.

-All right, mate.

Quarryman David Dutson was standing on a ledge

when he lost his footing and fell 30 feet.

Part of the face has given way, which has caused him to slip

and fall over the edge.

How's your breathing feel?

Paramedic Graham Pemberton can see he has broken his arm and leg.

It's the injuries he can't see that are worrying him.

-You've been conscious throughout, have you?

-Yeah.

-Can you remember falling down?

-Yeah.

-Did you slip?

-Yeah.

-You didn't feel dizzy or anything first?

-No.

-Is his arm all right?

-No, no it's not.

Pilot Chris is already trying to work out

how to get David to hospital. Landing here was hard enough.

It was interesting, to say the least,

but hopefully we'll be able to get

him off and taken to hospital very shortly.

OK. We've got an open humerus this side.

-Bah, lad, you've picked a mucky site haven't you?

-I know.

That blood there, Dave, has come from this arm round down there, OK?

-Does that feel OK?

-Leg's fine. My knee hurts

-That side.

-So it's just this side here?

-Mmm.

In there, yeah, and this arm.

What about round there? No bruising or anything?

He's got an open fracture in his left arm, which has bled fairly heavily.

We think he may have damaged his pelvis,

possibly done his left femur, and he's broken his left ankle.

And possibly his right foot, as well. So, he's got a number of injuries,

one or two of which could be quite serious if he starts to deteriorate.

David's in agony, despite a cocktail of painkillers.

Now he's also being given Entonox gas.

We're going to have to move you,

and that's almost certainly going to be painful.

We've given you is much morphine as we can.

There's not a lot else we can give you.

But, if they Entonox is going to knock you out, what we can do

is dose you up on the Entonox so you become really drowsy and we can

move you whilst you're drowsy,

and you won't remember any of it, hopefully. OK?

This is a dangerous site for the emergency services.

Recent heavy rain means the rock face is unsafe.

We have somebody at the top of the drop to make sure that

nobody else comes and knocks any debris over,

because obviously these emergency services now are very exposed

to any falling debris and we don't want anybody else to get injured.

We've got a cordon round the top,

we're restricting the amount of people that we need to

put in at the bottom to make sure that if anything does happen,

we've got it as safe as we possibly can have.

But it's started to rain again, and there's no time to waste.

David's colleagues are understandably concerned about him.

Can you tell me anything about his injuries...?

He's broke his arm, he's broke his leg,

-and he may have broke his pelvis.

-Right.

All right? But we don't know for certain.

-Go right down to the bottom, yeah?

-Right.

If he'd fallen headfirst, I think

we'd have been looking at a completely different outcome.

So, a very lucky man, in the fact that he survived it,

obviously very unlucky that he's fallen so far.

Now Chris must get the team, and its patient, out of the quarry.

He knew this would be a difficult takeoff, but not this difficult.

-Getting downdraughts off the top there, guys.

-Yeah.

-Let's have a look around.

-Can we move right?

-A downdraught is pushing 98 back to the ground.

-20 seconds.

-OK, mate.

Chris is using all the power of two jet engines,

but the chopper won't climb.

It's time for another tactic, and this time,

Chris manages to climb away safely.

David is airborne for Leeds General Infirmary.

A trauma team is waiting to carry out a thorough

assessment of his injuries.

Without their patient and his workmates,

Yorkshire's ancient monuments would not now be in such good shape.

But today, David is badly in need of repair.

And it's going to be a long battle.

X-rays and scans reveal a catalogue of serious injuries that

require a series of operations.

Smashed both heels and left ankle smashed, and broke lower left leg.

I fractured my hip, fractured my pelvis,

and also shattered my elbow and I do believe I have some small

fractures in my spine, which they say should mend themselves.

I've been given a second chance. You don't get too many of those.

So, I've got to just do as they tell me,

really, take each day as it comes.

I know there's going to be hard days,

there's going to be better days, but I've got some good

family around me who can support me, help me to do that.

It's 12 weeks before David is fit enough to climb the stairs

to his first-floor flat.

The specialist said I could have it anywhere between six months

and two years.

The frame could be on until it's, you know, fixed, basically.

And it looks like he's clocked on at the quarry for the last time.

They have said I might have to think about a different career,

as they don't think I'll be able to work in the quarry,

where I work, due to the ground and the harsh environment.

One of the frustrations paramedics frequently cite is when

accidents could have been avoided by taking simple safety precautions.

Helimed 99 is heading south to the former Yorkshire coalfield.

We're en route to Moorthorpe, which is a little village between

South Kirkby and South Elmsall, for a guy that'd run into a van on a moped.

It sounds like the driver's gone into the windscreen of the vehicle,

and he's not been wearing his leathers,

putting himself at even more risk.

Paramedic Darren lives near here,

and he'd old friends with the crew caring for the rider.

-Ey up, kiddy, you all right?

-All right, ey up.

-Now, then.

-Right, this is Tony.

Tony says he was travelling approximately 30 miles an hour,

the van approximately the same.

-No loss of consciousness at all, can remember it all.

-Yep. Okey-dokey.

So, we'll bring our Combi Board, pop him onto that,

-we'll flip it over, and just do a log roll.

-Sounds all right.

25-year-old Tony Busk was on his way to work at a care home

when the accident happened.

His head did this to the van.

-Right, Tony. Going to roll you over onto this good leg, yeah?

-Yes.

-And we're going to put you on to this board.

-Right.

I'll tell you straight out, mate, it's not going to be comfortable.

-Yes.

-But, looking at what's happened to you, we need you not to

move from that position, straight up and straight down, do you understand?

Yes.

Everything we're doing is a precautionary measure, do you get it?

It'll be uncomfortable, but it won't be long.

We don't want you to do anything. We're going to do it.

-Do you understand?

-Right.

-Super.

Tony's got a very serious leg injury.

He'll need a skin graft, but he's lucky to be alive.

His helmet was the only protective equipment he was wearing.

When we roll you over, my mate's going to dust your back down, yeah?

Yeah.

Darren fears Tony may also have a back injury.

A manoeuvre called the log roll will safeguard his spinal cord.

Ready, steady, roll...

-That's fine. All debris clear.

-Board him, then.

You'll feel the board going behind your back now.

Tony's dedicated to his job as a carer. As he lay in the road,

he rang colleagues to tell them he'd be late.

He rang work up, yeah!

We were both on shift this afternoon at half past one.

And, he got that.

So we slammed down on the West Bus to see what was happening.

Ready, steady, roll.

Brilliant. Well done, Tony.

The patient's mum and dad have arrived at the scene.

We just got a phone call and jumped out of the house.

That's I'm why like this and jumped into the car.

Rushed down here to see, to see him.

So, so on the way here we got told that they were

waiting for the air ambulance.

Tony's going to be flown to Leeds General Infirmary.

Short trip, that's all. We're going to LGI. Best place to take you.

-Right.

-Need to get your leg fixed.

-Do you understand?

-Yes.

Nowt to worry about, if you've got a problem, lift your hand up

-and indicate to me.

-All right.

Darren is a keen biker, and he hates to see avoidable injuries

to riders who fail to wear the right gear.

Tony! I've been riding a motorbike, mate, for 30 years, yeah?

30 years I've been on a bike and I've never, ever gone out without my kit.

If you come off and you slide down the road, you don't

hit anything, you'll get up and walk away.

I guarantee you, if you'd have had some gear on,

you might not have got badly injured.

-Yeah.

-All right?

I feel a right tool for it now.

Well, you've learned a lesson, mate, and you'll get a second chance.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

OK, then, lift up.

The helmet's done its job, but his right leg, all the way down,

he's got some severe lacerations, he's got some skin that's been removed

that we can't actually find, and his lower leg is potentially fractured.

He'll live to tell this tale, and hopefully the next time he goes

out on another moped, he'll wear the gear that he should be wearing.

It'll be a long road to recovery for Tony.

The LGI's plastic surgeons will have to rebuild part of his leg,

where muscle tissue has been torn away.

A few days later, he's still counting the cost of biking

in shorts and a T-shirt.

I've got some small fractures in the bottom of my spine,

some lacerations and I've opened my knee up.

I've had stitches to my right leg and that,

and various cuts and bruises, and a nice pretty eye.

This arm's OK, yeah?

Put it up onto your chest and then hold them together.

Tony's phone call to work astonished his bosses,

but as he lay in the road, it seemed the right thing to do.

I didn't think it was bad at all.

I'd taken my helmet off and phoned work.

I know we're meant to phone work an hour before we start shift

if we can't make it in but...

They were the closest numbers in my phone book to get to,

so I had to ring, and I knew somebody would answer.

Tony knows he should have been wearing protective gear.

Paramedic Darren told him that.

But this 25-year-old was more nervous about someone else's advice.

I was scared of my mam coming.

She's always drummed into me about having protective gear on,

which I should have done, so, petrified of her coming.

Asking the police to protect me from her!

-Ey up! How we doing?

-Not too bad.

And mum still knows best. Six months after the accident,

she has persuaded Tony to give up biking and take up driving.

So what you're doing is moulding your car with the kerb,

following the road to the right.

A stroke can hit suddenly and without warning.

Its effects can be devastating, and if proper treatment

isn't given quickly, the consequences can be lifelong.

-What heading are we coming on, Pete?

-Uh... 340.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park covers 1,000 square miles,

but on average, each one of them is home to just 19 people.

Its remoteness means that in an emergency,

the journey to hospital can be long and slow.

We're off to a hamlet in North Yorkshire called Gammersgill.

Given where they are, location-wise, it's quicker for us to fly

this patient to an acute stroke centre for treatment.

A stroke is where blood to the brain is cut off or reduced.

This leads to brain damage and loss of bodily functions.

Reduced movement in your limbs, arms, you might get some facial droop,

slurred speech, all signs of a positive stroke.

84-year-old hill farmer Joe Bostock is conscious, but confused.

The patient is alert and what he's reported himself is

he's got no use of his arms or limbs. Potentially quite serious.

We've got a 4-6 hour window usually to get these

patients into hospital for treatment.

-Nice spot this, isn't it?

-Beautiful, yeah.

-It looks lovely in the sunshine.

-Yep, all looking clear. Left.

I'm going to come round a little bit more.

-Yep, all those bags are staying secure.

-On a slope, then.

Mum found my dad on the bathroom floor and he'd fallen

and wasn't able to get up.

He said his right arm and leg felt really weak

and he wasn't able to raise himself.

He's feeling numbness on his right side,

he's aware of everything that's going on, he is aware of his

slurred speech, which is quite bad,

the right arm is the weakness, not so much legs.

We can't really gauge the legs because he's unstable on his legs

when he walks around with two sticks.

But again, fully aware of everything is going on,

fully aware of what's happening, suddenly collapsed in the bathroom.

-No history?

-No history.

-My colleague's just told me what's been happening, OK?

-Yeah.

Some weakness in this arm, isn't it?

The land crew recognised his symptoms as having a stroke.

They realised that there's now a push to get these

people into hospital quickly, assess what type of stroke they're having,

and whether it can be thrombolysed, so that they will be given

a blood thinning agent that actually

breaks the clot up if it's caused by a thrombus.

And that means they've got a far better chance of recovering

and getting back to the sort of lifestyle that they were

experiencing before the attack.

-Say bye, granddad.

-Bye, granddad.

Joe has lived and worked on this farm for over 50 years,

even though now he is semi-retired.

It may be some time before he can come home.

This is the first time he's ever flown, he said,

so, I suppose it's never too late, is it?

We'll come down and see you later.

-I'm all right, I'm all right.

-They're going a trip out.

-Sunny Teesside, to see you.

-I wanted to ride your helicopter.

Helimed 99 Yorkshire airlift, we've lifted en route to James Cook.

ETA 15 minutes.

A specialist stroke care team is already on standby at

James Cook in Middlesbrough.

In stroke cases, speed really counts,

and the NHS has nothing faster than Helimed 99.

-When you fell, did you hurt yourself at all?

-No, no, I'm all right.

-No?

-My head.

-You just felt unusual?

-My speech is a bit...

-Yeah. Not normal.

The sooner tests are carried out, the better,

because some treatment is only effective

if given within a short period of time after the stroke.

Paramedics are confident he will make a good recovery.

Typical sort of Yorkshire hill farmer, very tough and rugged.

If ever you do go out for these guys,

they won't call for an ambulance or any assistance unless they really

need to, and obviously in this case, this gentleman needed to do that.

Still jolly, still very positive, so hopefully,

by coming to James Cook, he can get the treatment that can get him

back doing the sort of thing he obviously loves to do.

Joe spends some time in hospital

and winter's arrived at the family farm in the Dales by the time

he is finally feeling well enough to be up and about.

Hello! What do you want for dinner?

-Whatever's on the go. Is there anything good?

-Yes, Shepherd's Pie.

That'll do me.

The stroke's affected his speech and his mobility,

but with regular physio, he's hoping to be out of his wheelchair soon.

I remember to walk and... And hadn't much movement in this right hand.

The left hand was better, it still is. And...

..I have to check a bit on my memory. I can't always trust that.

Come on, then. Come, Bonnie. Good girl.

Fetch him on!

It's a frustrating time for a man who has worked outside all his life.

Before his stroke, Joe worked every day helping his son with the sheep.

The day before the accident,

he was out gathering in sheep on the moor on his quad-bike with his dogs.

Since the stroke, he's not actually been out and about.

His legs are still pretty bad.

He's hopefully going to get out and about in the spring.

Thanks to his high-speed flight to hospital,

and prompt treatment, doctors say that Joe's outlook is good

and the family is hopeful he'll be once again fit enough to

ride the fells on his quad-bike.

This landscape, you know, it just wouldn't be the same without him.

This is where he belongs.

I think I was beyond... What's the name for it?

Beyond repair.

We are a nation of tree lovers. Believe it or not, there is

more woodland in the UK today than there was 90 years ago.

And a lucky few earn their living out here.

Forestry is recognised as one of the most dangerous

professions in the world.

A combination of working at height, heavy machinery,

and cutting equipment makes a hazardous cocktail.

We're currently flying out to East Yorkshire, we've just had a

report that a branch has fallen from a tree and hit someone on the head.

I believe the patient was initially unconscious,

and although now they've recovered consciousness,

they're not as alert as they should be.

Forestry worker Nick Scaife is unable to move

and is showing all the signs of a head injury.

Helimed 98 is close by.

On board are paramedics Pete Valance and Al Day.

-The gamekeeper's house, it's not the best for marshalling.

-Exactly!

Nick is lucky to be alive.

The branch that hit him is large enough to have killed him.

Right, what's the gent's name again?

Medics fear he has broken his neck.

One wrong move and he could be paralysed for life.

You appreciate what's happened, yeah? So, you had your helmet on?

So, there is some damage to that.

You can see where it's scuffed, but it's not cracked.

-Yeah. OK.

-Good.

-Ha! Right.

Whereabouts is your pain at the moment?

My left leg feels numb,

so from my hip to my foot,

-and my right arm feels numb.

-Yeah?

Out here in the woods, Nick was luckily not working alone.

We were in Swift Dale, and we were just thinning this wood.

And a tree got stuck, so I came across to pull it out for him,

grabbed hold of the tree with the grab, Nick got out of the way so I could pull it,

and then a branch from another tree came down and hit him.

So I just stopped the tractor straight away

and ran off to get some help.

-I'm going to take your knife off your belt, all right?

-Right.

-Just look straight at me.

-Yeah.

Oh, it's just my left foot...

Paramedic Pete needs to establish the extent of his injuries

before they can move him and can get him on the chopper.

The headwoman rang up and then I went off on the four-wheel drive

to bring them down here because they wouldn't get down here with an ambulance.

Checking your chest before we move you,

getting a nice bit of sunshine here.

He did complain of some discomfort right side

-but he was laid on the...

-I think it was...

I think I'd done my weights with Robert, and he'd helped me,

you know when you struggle to do the last one?

-Just take some deep breaths for me.

-It hit me on the chest...

Nick, just take some deep breaths for me.

Nick's showing signs of confusion.

He needs a brain scan to determine

whether this is minor concussion or something more serious.

Is it tender at all round there, Nick?

-No... Just feels a bit woozy.

-All right.

Nick was wearing all the right safety gear.

He even has specialist clothing with fibres that would clog up

and stop a chainsaw on contact.

But today, there was one particular item which has proved invaluable.

It's all safety gear, helmets and everything.

Luckily, the helmet saved his life, I should think.

Nick is becoming increasingly worried and confused

and needs to get to hospital.

Look around at all of us.

We'd be looking a bit more anxious if there was

anything to worry about, yeah?

It'll be a sickie. I've just come back to work...

-I'll be off of earning now!

-Well, these things happen, don't they?

-You're a bit of a shirker, is that what it is?

-Ha! Yeah.

You can't account for things like this, can you?

All right, guys, go right angles, there's no fancy stretcher on

this, so we literally have to lift in,

rest it on, and then feed it through.

Nick was deep in the woods.

Thanks to Helimed 98,

he won't have to be carried far to the nearest road.

While Nick is being prepared for flight,

he's trying to stay alert and remember details of his day.

-I think I remember cutting my toenails this morning...

-Ha-ha!

They are looking quite manicured.

You didn't wash your feet and change your socks, I know that!

Nick's being flown to Hull Royal Infirmary.

Doctors will be carrying out brain scans and X-raying

his neck and leg.

It looks like it'll be some time before he's fit to work again.

But, within a week, Nick has returned home.

He'd broken his neck as well as his ankle, but the gash to his head

is healing well and luckily, there were no signs of any brain injury.

When you're trained with chainsaws and that, it all seems more

emphasised on the chainsaw biting you, you know, cutting yourself.

And because you're cutting the tree, you supposed to make the tree

do as it's told, if you know what I mean, because you're cutting it.

You don't expect its mate to drop its branch on your head!

And despite his recent close shave, he has no urge to change careers.

Just love everything about it, being outside and... yeah.

A bit of solitude and countryside, yeah. It's good.

It has its downsides, obviously. Ha-ha!

The North is home to its fair share of historic houses, and no

family seat is complete without a few acres of ornamental woodland.

But 300 years after many were planted, maintaining them

is a dangerous job.

Today, Helimed 99 has been scrambled to a groundsman

badly hurt at a country house on the Yorkshire Wolds.

Hiya.

Paramedic Lee Davison knows that accidents involving

chainsaws are rarely minor.

-Hiya, pal. How are you?

-A 14-foot wall...

He's cut a branch, it's then hit the ladder,

that's then knocked the ladder from under him, he's come down.

OK, all right.

Did you see happen, pal? Yeah, you did. Did he land on this side?

Well, it was a bit quick.

He hit the ladder and just hit the deck, it was too fast.

-You didn't see which side he landed on.

-No, he moved straight away.

OK, no worries.

The victim, David Price,

fell after the branch he was cutting hit the ladder from beneath him.

The chainsaw landed just feet from his head.

Started cutting the branch, took one off, took the next one off,

and obviously the branch went, hit the ladders,

took him out of the tree, basically just knocked him off the ladders.

Deep breath.

OK, all right, nice and steady,

just breathe in and out through your mouth.

Good lad, that's it.

David fell from the equivalent height of two stories.

He has suspected damage to his pelvis and ribs.

Before he is moved, he will receive morphine

and a neck brace will be fitted to prevent any further damage.

David is the resident gardener here

and has been gardening for over 30 years.

This is his first ever accident.

Just tidying up the area of the garden to make it look a lot nicer.

It's what he enjoys doing but not much more.

OK, you'll just feel it nipping up a little bit now.

All right, pal, all right, that's good.

Potentially, he could have fractured quite a few ribs and done

some damage to his pelvis or his hip.

Are you happy, pal, there?

I've got you.

We've put a splint on his pelvis to keep that stable,

so it's not going to move. If there is a fracture

it won't get any worse.

Monitored his breathing, on his left-hand side,

just to make sure that wasn't damage to his lungs.

We've given him some morphine just make him comfortable.

This woodland has no road access.

Thankfully, Helimed 99 has been able to land close by.

We've taken a bit of time just getting him sorted out, getting

him packaged up properly, getting his pain score down,

so that he's comfortable, and the whole

situation becomes easier, for the family and for him himself.

Consultants at York Hospital are on standby.

David is detained there for a while,

but his injuries could have been so much worse.

He's been very, very lucky that, with operating a chainsaw at that height

and obviously they're a killing machine if they come away like that

and they end up dropping,

but he's been very lucky that that hasn't fallen on him

or taken one of his limbs off or made some nasty wounds on his body.

Hundreds of acres of man-made forest cover

part of the North York Moors and the dense tree cover makes

landing hard for the Helimed pilots.

Even finding the patient can be a challenge.

We're on our way to a little village north of Kirkby Moorside for a

gentleman who's been cutting a tree down in quite an isolated place.

We've been told that part of the tree has collapsed onto his legs,

which could obviously be quite serious,

if he's got crush injuries to his legs.

We've got no contact with the scene at this detail.

A colleague has come to the phone, rung us,

and then gone back to the patient on a quad.

59-year-old Michael Veal, known to his friends as Buster,

is badly injured after a freak accident involving a chainsaw.

Could be anywhere, couldn't he?

The trouble is, no-one can find him.

What is it again, Graham? Where did he say?

-He said it's a five-minute quad bike.

-Right, north of here.

So, anywhere out to our right.

Eventually, pilot Chris spots some people waving in the village below.

-When we looking, then?

-Down at your left.

-Oh yeah, yeah, got him.

-Got the guys.

-But there's still no sign of their patient.

I'll go out, find out if they're actually here at all.

It may be that they know where he is

and we might not be in the right spot for him.

Yeah, exactly.

-Hiya.

-How far is he?

-Um...

Don't walk off, I'm not going anywhere until we know where

we're going, before we let the helicopter shut down.

-Um...

-Because if it's further near the bottom,

we'll take the helicopter to the bottom.

-He's probably midway.

-Typical! Ha-ha.

-Yeah.

-Right.

My partner was chainsawing a tree midway down the track,

and the branch fell on him.

And he tried to, it was on a slope so he was trying to get

away from it, and slipped,

and caught his ankle or his leg underneath him.

So, with Graham heading into the woods,

Chris and Dave head up for another look from above.

D'you want me to see if I can get a quick guidance from Graham

on which way he wants us to go?

We'll probably see him, I imagine.

Because we're not entirely sure of the access, the pilot and Dave,

they're going to have a little fly around and see

if we can spot a bit better from the air, see if there's a better

landing site that's maybe a bit closer from where we are now.

If it's five minutes by quad-bike, it's a fair hike.

There's little track below us the leads down from the church.

At last, Buster has medical attention,

but it's too dangerous to try and land Helimed 98 here.

-You're directly above us now!

-We're directly above them now.

98, roger.

There's a tree over on its side down below me, on my right side,

I've got him.

We'll land back in the field where we dropped off.

Yes, yes, I think that's where we originally landed,

it's a good place to put down as any.

Buster was sawing up on this bank here

and then we just heard this almighty great crack and he moved to

get out of the way and then I tried to grab,

instinctively just tried to grab whatever I could to try

and stop it from landing on him, I could see him buckling under it.

And then immediately,

he just, this huge branch here fell down and landed partially on him,

but he managed to sort of twist away from under it.

-Please, put me out of my misery.

-It's not that bad!

-Shall I go and get a gun, Buster?

-Yeah.

What else are you going to do to the leg?

Once we've given you some painkillers we'll put a splint on it,

because we're going to have to carry you out.

Yeah, I know you are.

-I don't envy you.

-Well, there's plenty of people.

Getting Buster out is going to be painful.

On me. Ready, steady, lift.

It's a long trek back up the hill,

past the logs Buster cut down earlier in the week.

Buster is a well-known character locally,

and many have turned out to help.

Put your head down, Buster. That's it.

Whatever you do, Buster, don't press the bell,

because there's no trolley-dolly on these.

What happens if I need a pee?

Uhh... You're going to have to go where you go, I'm afraid.

ALL LAUGH

All right? It'll be like central heating, it'll be warm.

If you can't cry, you've got to laugh, haven't you?

Looks like he's fractured his left tib and fib.

It's not a life-threatening injury, but due to the location

and the fact that the crew probably would probably take

a good 50 minutes to get him to hospital, I think it's a

lot more efficient for us as the air ambulance to get him

to Scarborough, he'll be there in 15 minutes.

So, in just 15 minutes, Buster is flown in from the forest to the

coast, and Dave's diagnosis is spot on.

X-rays reveal that Buster has a clean

break in both of the bones in his lower leg.

I knew immediately it was broken.

I just knew that it was sort of potentially flapping around

if I moved and I've seen a horse with a broken leg,

which isn't very pretty sight, and it reminded me of that, actually.

We were doing a public service, really.

We went down with my chainsaw and I was chopping away

and what I didn't realise was the last branch

that I was chopping was actually

propping up the main trunk of the tree.

And I chopped at that and the whole thing came down.

So, this was a good turn that came to a painful end.

But Buster says he will be back again to finish the job

just as soon as his leg is better.

The patients felled by trees there, and thankfully all are on the mend.

Now, on average, every time a Premiership rugby team plays,

two of its players will be injured.

That's more than 700 casualties a year among professional players.

And the amateur game isn't exactly safe.

-He said it was rugby, Dave?

-Yeah, rugby injury.

Helimed 99 is heading to Selby, a Rugby Union town.

A player from Selby's second team, Dan White,

is down after a high-speed, mid-air tackle.

Obviously, it's a contact sport,

they tend to get hit from all sides.

If they're not expecting it,

then the injuries generally will be neck and leg injuries.

We don't really know what the problem is with this patient

because he's complaining of pain in a number of areas.

It is one of those details that we have to look at on-scene

and see what the crew have done prior to our arrival.

Rugby is a dangerous game.

In recent years,

its governing body has put more emphasis on fitness training

and faster play, and with that comes a greater chance of serious injury.

He's basically gone in for a tackle with another player and

they've crunched together in the air and he's gone down onto his side.

He felt a big crunch in his hip,

and can't really move his right leg or his hip at all.

The Rugby Football Union has been training match officials and coaches

in how to care for players in the vital minutes after an injury.

And today, Dan's team has done all the right things,

including calling 999.

We carry physio with us at the first team, and for the

third team as well. It's just a key point to have at any club now,

any injury, better to have someone who can look after it straightaway.

Dan's conscious, but in great pain.

When I, when I went down to get the ball, they hit me,

so I was 90 degrees, went over, leg stayed in the same position,

right back, heard a massive crunchy noise and then just pain

before I had even hit the floor, and then I couldn't move anything.

He's sustained a hip injury or pelvic injury playing rugby.

So, he has no other injuries.

He did have some loss of sensation in his left leg,

the side of the injury, but that's rectified itself now,

so we're just waiting to see where we're taking him to.

Dan comes from a family of rugby fans.

His mother was at a pitch watching his brother play

when the accident happened.

-And he'll be fine.

-Is not his spine, is it?

-No, no.

He's wiggling his arms and legs, his hips are hurting him, not his back.

-He's fine, honest.

-OK.

If we don't get airborne in five minutes,

we won't be able to take him.

It's getting late in the day, and if it gets too dark,

Helimed 99 can't fly.

Dan's condition is not critical,

but the pain he's suffering concerns paramedic Darren.

He's taken a smack to his left hip. He is in a lot of pain.

His pain's not been reduced much by the morphine that they've given him.

We're not able to take him to the major trauma centre

because his injuries don't dictate that, so we're going to take him

up to York District, and let the doctors have a look at him.

Right, spin round.

OK, Darren, that's it. Take it easy, Buster. Are you still cold?

Once these heaters go on, jet powered, he'll be warm.

He's shivering.

Dan's dad and his mum will have to make their own way to

hospital as there's not enough room on board.

We'll have him round in the department by the time you get there,

he'll have had a bath, and he'll look nice.

Classic rugby injury, what we call a hip point injury,

so I don't think it's involving his spine as such.

Essentially he's had a fracture to the neck of the femur,

which is quite difficult to break.

Hopefully he's just quite badly bruised inside

and he might get away with it.

But he's quite chirpy, which is a good thing.

Young lad, very fit, so he'll make a good recovery, I would say.

Dan's about to undergo a series of tests, scans,

and X-rays, at York Hospital.

Doctors know injuries like Dan's can have life-long effects.

RADIO CHATTER

But in his case, the results are a big relief for him and his family.

He's allowed home the next day.

A few weeks on, and Dan can still only enjoy rugby from the terraces.

While he had no broken bones,

the bruising around his hip is taking some time to heal.

Usually, I'll be playing second row or in the back row somewhere,

but they were short that week so I was playing at flyhalf.

I just went to get the ball and just as I walked over, they hit me

and I fell back over my hip, so it was too far over my back and hip.

It hurt them, and I heard like a crunchy, horrible, cracky noise.

The helicopter was just landing as I arrived,

and spoke to one of the paramedics.

My first question was, can he move his feet? Can he move his arms?

And they said yes, they just wanted to see him

to make sure that he was OK.

The good news is that Dan's pelvis was not broken,

and after a few weeks, he should be able to give

up his seat in the stand for his usual position on the pitch.

I'm just thankful for everyone that helped me.

Hopefully it will get better soon.

And most doctors would agree that

when it comes to rugby injuries, it's better to play safe than sorry.

A bit of ribbing from your mates is a lot easier to bear than

a life-long disability.

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