Episode 28 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?

-I'm 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 an emergency anaesthetic.

And town centres into helipads.

-Is that it 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...

A teenage motorcyclist is badly injured after a head-on crash.

-We've lost sensation completely from nipple down.

-OK.

My son did a head-on crash with him. This is the result at the moment.

A loved-up couple fall head over heels down a hill.

-Everyone's been calling us Humpty-Dumpty...

-Jack and Jill.

A schoolgirl's game of dare ends in A&E.

I brought the paramedic to the woods and we could hear screaming.

And a rider is crushed, when his horse falls on him.

You think they're going to get up off you, but he was laid on me.

In a serious road accident,

some people simply walk away with only cuts and bruises,

others suffer injuries which may change lives forever.

The Helimed crews have to be prepared for anything.

It's a Sunday morning and a family of bikers

is caught up in a terrible accident

near the market town of Northallerton.

Helimed 98 has been scrambled by ground paramedics,

concerned about the condition of their teenage patient.

James Vine and Sam Burgess will take over his care.

Clear to the left, no wires, no obstacles.

Keep it on the top there, because it's a bit slow to get down there.

-OK, then, mate. Let's go.

-Yeah, good to go.

I think they're going to be working quickly,

he's already packaged, just tee James Cook up for me already, mate?

19-year-old Nick Kane is conscious,

but has no feeling or movement from the chest down.

-Hi, Nick.

-We found him helmet on, face down, visor smashed.

-OK.

-We managed to roll him, because his airway was compromised.

-OK.

-He's actually in no pain at all.

-Brilliant.

-But we've lost sensation completely from nipple down.

He can't squeeze, can't feel anything.

-No worries.

-We've had a full top-to-toe survey...

Nothing on primary. I'll listen before we get him on the aircraft.

Big deep breaths in for me, pal.

-Uh-huh.

-Big deep breath.

-I'm trying.

OK, mate.

Nick was out riding with his dad and brother

when he was in a head-on collision with an oncoming car.

They saw it all.

He cleared the car and I thought, "Thank God he's cleared the car

"and he hasn't hit that."

And then I saw him hit the floor, where he started to roll out

and I was conscious that I was so close, I was catching up so quick,

I was actually going to ride over him,

but I managed to get into the guttering and pull over.

OK, when did you last have anything to eat or drink?

Er... Half-eleven, I had Weetabix.

-Just Weetabix, anything else?

-No.

-Good lad.

While we get him strapped, I'll have a quick feel of everything.

Feel here, pal, any pain?

-Can't feel my legs.

-OK. Feel me touching you here?

-No.

-Here?

-Yeah.

-Feel it there?

-Uh-huh.

-OK.

He seems to lose sensation from about here.

Obvious deficit from T4, mate.

While Nick is fully conscious and calm,

the lack of sensation in his lower body is alarming.

Nothing else on primary, had a quick listen to his chest,

he's got poor entry bilaterally.

Nothing of note, he has got air entry.

Right, as many hands as we can, please.

Can I borrow you? Are you the police officer?

Just borrow you for a lift, mate?

Because he's numb from the chest down,

there's a risk he has other injuries that he cannot feel.

Paramedics need to gather photos of the crash scene

to show waiting surgeons,

so they are clear on the type of accident Nick was involved in.

We're going to be lifting to James Cook in the next ten minutes.

Paramedic James tries not to worry his patient,

he's distracting Nick and trying to keep him upbeat.

Nick, how we doing, pal?

-All right. Nothing I can do, really.

-Not to worry, pal.

I just wish I had feeling in my body and I could move.

No, don't be daft, mate, we'll get you all squared away, mate.

-Nick, what I'm going to do is pop a bit of oxygen on, pal.

-Right.

It's just until we get you to hospital, OK?

Just a wee bit of fresh air, mate, just smells a bit funny.

James knows his dad is also worried.

Do you want to quickly jump up, just give him a quick kiss?

-You must be joking!

-Absolutely not. We believe in love on this ambulance!

I won't be that far behind you, you'll get there quicker than me.

Dad, we'll see you soon, we'll look after him, don't worry.

-Thanks.

-All right. We'll see you soon.

-Clear right, clear of the trees.

-Cheers.

Clear left.

It's a short flight to James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough.

What started out as a family ride out on his bike

has ended in potentially life-changing injuries.

The people who are most likely to become patients

of the air ambulance are always among its biggest fundraisers.

None more so than those who love to ride horses.

It's payback time for Yorkshire's amateur jockeys.

Today they're taking part in a point-to-point race

to raise money for the Helimed team.

Please, if you've got a very tired horse out in the country,

we don't want to see the head pushed off 'em.

For organisers like Bob Woodhouse,

it's a cause close to his heart, for good reason.

We are travelling just east of Malton,

which is North Yorkshire, where somebody has fallen off a horse

and we believe they've been crushed by the horse, from the fall.

-Good morning, you all right?

-A 64-year-old gentleman...

Bob is badly hurt. He was riding one of his horses

on the family farm when it shied,

-fell and crushed him.

-Hiya, Bob.

-The horse has reared up, he's come off the back of it.

-All right.

It landed almost here, but the horse landed on top of him.

Landed mainly across here

and in the saddle's dug right into his groin here.

-That's where I hurt.

-Right, OK.

We were phoning the bank, because we've just moved in,

emptying boxes and things and we heard these screams and shouts

and my daughter and I ran over here,

to see if we could help. At first we thought we could pull the horse off

because the horse was still on top of him,

but then, we just got the phone and rang the ambulance.

When he landed... Like, normally,

you think they're going to get up off you, but he was laid on me.

You know when you're winded, how all the wind is out of you...

He's got on the horse and he's just gone to walk away

from the stables and he's gone to tighten it's girth up

and it just reared up, run backwards and flipped itself over

and just laid on him.

Bob has no visible signs of injury,

but crash victims can suffer multiple fractures

and internal bleeding.

Keep going with that gas, Bob, because once it wears off, you'll be back to square one again.

You're better to keep taking it, because it does wear off quick.

-I've got pins and needles down my leg.

-OK.

It could be the way you're laid and also because you've hurt your groin,

you're probably holding yourself stiff to protect what's hurting.

We'll get you some pain relief in

and we're going to pop a little brace around your hips, OK?

No, no, you're all right.

Bob has a suspected fractured pelvis,

but he is refusing more pain relief.

You don't want some pain relief, why what's wrong?

No, I'm all right, don't give me pain relief.

-For what reason?

-I want to feel what's wrong with me.

You don't have to, that's what I'm trying to say.

He's a tough guy, like, he won't take painkillers. He can deal with pain.

The only reason I'm thinking, because when we start moving you

and putting you on this board, we can make you sort of pain-free,

comfortable, but you need to let us give it to you.

-Obviously I can't, if you tell me you don't.

-All right.

It works quick...

Bob finally decides to have morphine, to relieve the pain.

Once it takes effect, the team can conduct a full assessment

of his injuries and prepare him for flight.

Right, while we've got that exposed, take a big deep breath in for me.

BOB INHALES AND EXHALES

Bob could well have a back injury,

so they need to fit a brace to his neck.

So, we'll treat everything for the worst

and hopefully it'll not be required.

My dad's chairman of the Yorkshire Point-to-Point Association,

and every year, they raise money for the air ambulance

as one of their main charity beneficiaries,

now he's getting a bit of benefit from it!

Bob's years of fundraising for the air ambulance is paying off,

because without this chopper, it would be a very long

and uncomfortable ride by road to hospital.

It's really the time factor.

We've got a lot of bumpy roads round the countryside as well,

so it'd be more comfortable for Bob, rather than going over the bumps.

We've got about 40 minutes or so, driving to hospital from here,

the helicopter can do it in probably ten minutes or so, I'm guessing.

It's going to be better for Bob. The quicker he gets there, the quicker he gets X-rays,

the quicker he gets definitive treatment.

It'll be some time before Bob's back on the saddle.

His injuries are serious. They include multiple fractures

to his pelvis. He's laid up for months.

But by the time this year's fundraising race comes round,

Bob's back in form and he's determined to play his part

in making sure today's point-to-point pays out

for the air ambulance that raced to his aid that day.

I was sat on him, waiting for my son to come out of the stable

with the other horse and all of a sudden, he put his head down,

shook his head and then he ran backwards for about 20 yards,

as fast as he could and just flipped straight over on top of me.

He didn't give me a chance.

Never worked out the reason why he did it.

He had a bit of a temperament problem, probably that was it,

but it wasn't very nice on the day.

He actually laid on me for ages, 30 seconds something like that,

and I knew then, when I was laid there,

that I couldn't feel my legs and I thought something was serious here.

Bob's injuries were far worse than first thought.

Well, my pelvis was basically smashed.

It was broke in three places

and a part of my pelvis bone had dropped because of the way it broke.

I wasn't very good for about three weeks!

I would say that I'm 100% fit now,

I'm actually back riding horse, which is a thing,

when I was laid in hospital, I didn't think I would be able to do.

I don't think I'll be breaking any more young horses in.

These point-to-point races raise thousands

for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance each year

and it's a cause now even closer to Bob's heart.

From car crashes, to hikers with broken ankles

or fallen horse riders, many of the Helimed team's cases

are almost routine.

But sometimes, a bizarre accident comes the paramedics' way.

With years of medical service under their belts,

paramedics Dave Appleby and Pete Vallance

are not easily surprised, but today's mission sounds unusual.

We've had reports of a male and a female

who've fallen from a 12-foot wall.

We're not sure of any other details at the moment,

but we're told that we're going for the male person

who appears to have spinal injuries and damage to his pelvis.

The two casualties are in Hawes,

a popular location for hikers and climbers.

Helimed 98 has been here many times before.

Not a huge number of choices around here, is there?

They normally come through that gate,

-so that's access for ambulances.

-Okily-dokily.

The couple are Graham Scott and Claire Alderson.

These lovebirds were fooling around near a wall

at the top of the bank when they fell.

Luckily, paramedics have been joined by Swaledale Mountain Rescue.

-Two people sat on the wall...

-Right.

And they've literally knocked each other off.

One's fallen onto the other and one has got a lower leg injury,

the other is more serious. They're looking at that at the moment.

We've got an extra patient route out and back round...

Do you know if they've used a board on them yet?

Getting Graham and Claire to safety is going to be a challenge.

So, the route you've planned, you'll be to get them out on a board, yeah?

-Hello.

-Hi, guys.

Land ambulance crews, as well as the fire brigade are also on scene.

Getting the couple back up this slope

will require every pair of available hands.

Is that the best way to come down?

He's got himself in a right position there, hasn't he?

He was dangling his girlfriend over and they both come over.

He came bouncing down here and smashed his spine.

He's got no pins and needles or neurological difficulties,

but he's got quite a lot of tenderness around the spine itself.

Right. The lumbar area.

Graham is not only red-faced, but he's also got a few more injuries

after he tumbled down the hill and hit a tree.

We've got potential there for causing

significant injury falling down.

It's quite a rocky bank, as well.

It's not something you come across every day,

particularly for the fact there's two casualties down there as well,

rather than one.

So, yeah, I suppose they're lucky that the bank wasn't any longer

and that they were in a position where people actually seen them,

witnessed the fall, otherwise it could have been a lot worse

than it looks to have turned out.

My partner picked me up and jokingly hung me over the wall

and then we both went over somehow.

When we get him down to the bottom, we'll put him on the ground again,

just till we get ourselves organised.

You go back to the wall and we'll put him straight down.

The Swaledale Mountain Rescue team is made up of volunteers

and working in this type of terrain, they never know what's coming next.

The stretcher's out at the end there.

Slow as you want, lads.

You come across all sorts, you'd be surprised how unusual they get.

Falling off a wall, that's one of the worst ones.

Lower leg injuries.

We've got a possible spinal injury as well.

-Everybody all right?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

While Graham is transported to the helicopter,

the mountain rescue team will now get Claire to the ambulance.

-Hiya. You all right?

-Hello there.

It's Dave, I'm one of the paramedics with the air ambulance.

Hiya.

Just to let you know that we're bringing a 35-year-old gentleman in,

who's fallen off a wall down a steep embankment.

We heard very little about the story,

but it does seem quite an unusual job.

From our point of view, the end task is exactly the same,

it's somebody in a difficult location that needs treatment and extraction.

Clear left down there.

The roads around the town of Hawes are winding and sometimes uneven.

Graham's injuries are potentially serious,

so he's been flown for treatment.

The couple is taken to hospital in Harrogate.

Claire is allowed home at the end of the day,

but Graham is kept in for observation.

For the next week, the couple find

they're the talk of the Dales after their accident

is featured in the local paper, it's picked up by the tabloids

and it's a while before they're happy to relive the day

they fell for each other in entirely the wrong way.

We're on the way home from shopping,

we got up here and she decided to call us 'Fatty'.

I said, "Right, I'm going to chuck you over that wall,"

just as a joke, like a joke.

I picked her up and as I got near the wall, I slipped

and she tumbled down over the wall, had hold of my neck still,

pulled me over at the same time and then rolled

the rest of the way down into the tree, hit my spine off the tree.

They both came over, he came bouncing down and he smashed his spine here.

Graham suffered a long list of cuts and bruises to his back,

legs, ribs and arms, but no broken bones.

Claire chipped a bone in her ankle. Instead of receiving sympathy,

the couple have become the subject of local gossip.

Everyone's been calling us Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill...

Jack and Jill, fell down the hill...

It's a lesson in love the couple will never forget.

I cried my eyes out, worried about Claire at the same time.

In case anything had happened, because I didn't know what was going on with Claire.

I just knew she'd hurt her foot and that was it, that's all I got told.

-A thing never to do again.

-Never.

-Never pick her up near a wall.

-No.

Yorkshire's open countryside is the perfect training ground

to the British Army.

You will often see tanks and hear the crack of gunfire

as soldiers prepare to be sent to war zones.

But you don't have to be under fire to get hurt.

There's snow on them there hills. Cold in them there hills.

Helimed 98 is on its way to Queen Elizabeth Barracks in Strensall,

near York. It's an Army training base.

We've been tasked to a detail to the north of York.

It's one of the Army bases in the area.

There've been reports that a male has fallen

approximately 20 foot through a roof. He's complaining of pain in his back.

This is familiar terrain for paramedic Sam,

who has toured Afghanistan with the TA.

I know Strensall barracks, it's one of the main barracks

for the Army medical services.

So, I've done quite a lot of training there with the TA,

and we did that on pre-deployment before Afghanistan last year,

at the hospital trainer there,

so I've spent many a happy weekend loitering in Strensall.

Ah! I've got the ambulance, on the nose, see the woods? Tucked in.

-Yeah.

-On the nose. Right-hand side.

Pilot Andy Lister, a Navy veteran, knows the sound of gunfire, too.

You don't want to trust a medic with a pistol, mate.

If you hear things cracking off the aeroplane, pull up.

On the ground, they find a squaddie has fallen victim

to the icy conditions and slipped from the top of a bunker

-during a training exercise.

-Hello.

All right, mate.

This is Carl. He's slipped off here, the top of here.

Landed straight on his back.

Instant pain, almost, just below his shoulder blades, centrally, all the way down

to just above his coccyx. Eight out of ten, he scored it.

All the obs we've done are fine.

This soldier may be used to using guns, but his big fear is needles.

A problem, as paramedics need to give him pain relief.

If you're really, really afraid of needles.

we can give you something called Oramorph.

Basically, it's morphine, but you drink it.

It's not quite as strong as the IV stuff.

I'd rather drink it.

You'd rather drink it? No worries.

He's not got any neurological deficits,

which basically means he's got no strange feelings or sensations

in any of the extremities after the fall.

But he is complaining of quite severe central back pain,

so it could indicate he's got a fracture there somewhere.

But we're not going to know until we've had him X-rayed at hospital.

It's well below freezing,

and the patient needs to be carried to the chopper quickly.

There's no shortage of manpower.

Right. On you, then, Mark.

Lifting on three then. One, two, three.

All right? Everybody at a comfortable height?

His back pain could be something serious,

but until it is properly X-rayed,

it's vital to keep the patient as still as possible.

Right guys, head towards the other lunatic in an orange suit,

and then he'll tell you how to load on.

We've been very fortunate.

We've flown into the middle of a Royal Signals unit

that are doing some range practice.

So we've had plenty of lads to help us with the lifting and carrying.

Just feed him in, guys.

Nicely done.

He's not in camouflage today,

but paramedic Sam is only too pleased to help a fellow soldier.

From the not so hostile terrain of North Yorkshire,

to hospital in York will be a quick, five-minute flight,

and after a thorough medical,

this injured soldier will soon be back on duty.

Teenagers are renowned for their willingness to take risks,

not all of them sensible.

And a dare can often lead to an accident.

Helimed 99 is circling woods in South Yorkshire,

where a schoolgirl has been injured in a serious fall.

The RRV is query fractured pelvis and a fractured wrist.

But finding their patient is proving difficult.

I can't see any response cars out.

Roger. Apparently, they've sent someone up in a blue T-shirt.

I know it's going to be hard for you to spot the blue T-shirt,

but that is someone that's been sent up to a field nearby. Over.

Are you the chap we are looking for?

The girl fell from this water pipe, into a stream.

She has a suspected broken arm,

but local paramedics fear she could have other, more serious injuries.

So, the reason I asked for you guys, obviously, was the situation.

We don't have any crews available at all.

Initially with the pelvic, I was concerned about that.

Teenager Misha Robinson is in a lot of pain.

There is no movement in the pelvis or anything like that.

She was playing dare with her mates when she lost her balance.

-So how have you landed on the floor?

-I think I landed on my bum.

You think you landed on your bum. OK.

Misha landed in the river,

but people living nearby soon heard her cries for help.

Could hear her screaming.

Luckily we were both in, we were both on the back garden,

and as I say, I brought the paramedic round the woods,

and as I say, we found her here.

If you had to score it out of ten,

ten being the worst pain you could imagine...

Ten on my arm and seven on my back.

-We'll give you a bit of oxygen, see if we can get another needle in.

-No!

Before paramedics can move Misha, she needs pain relief,

but she is frightened of needles.

-If you say you really don't want it.

-I don't want it.

-That's fine.

Got some help, Tony.

The team is concerned Misha may have injured her back in the fall.

She'll be strapped to a spinal stretcher, as a precaution.

Right, so just going to give you a couple of mls, which is not a lot.

So you just pop that in your mouth.

And there's needle-free pain relief.

It's going to have to take effect, before they can move Misha.

-So which wrist is hurting, sweetheart?

-This one.

Let's have a quick look at it.

-Oh, it hurts.

-It's hurting a lot, is it?

-Yes.

Trouble is, as soon as you touch it, she's in agony.

So, shall we give you a few breaths of this, gas and air,

while I put this splint on?

Misha's being given Entonox, pain-killing gas.

You keep doing that. You can't take too much of it.

It's a modern version of laughing gas.

I'm just going to lift your hand up slightly.

And Misha shows why.

I was looking for some leaves.

That's it, leaves and frogs and stuff.

She's soon giggling through the pain of her broken wrist.

Now, it's important that you try and help us, right.

Us lot are going to move you, OK, so you just sit here.

Shortly, you're going to feel a board coming behind your back,

-and we're just going to lay you down on this board.

-OK.

What we're going to do, Misha, is lay you back

-gently on to this board behind you, all right?

-OK.

OK. Just try and relax as best you can.

-You'll feel a bump under your back, but don't worry.

-OK.

Just relax. There we go.

Ready, steady, slide.

Extra safety equipment is needed to get her out of the woodland safely.

All I'm doing at the moment is putting a safely line on,

that we've put on to the stretcher,

so as they are carrying the patient up the bankment,

if they slip or fall, then the patient's not going to go back down.

Members of the Ambulance Services HART team,

experts in technical rescue,

have been called in to haul Misha to safety.

No life-threatening injuries from what we can see.

Obviously, it's been a bad location,

to extricate her back up to the aircraft.

We're only four miles away from Sheffield Children's Hospital,

by air, which is obviously quite quick by road as well.

So what we've decided is to let Misha go by land ambulance,

and then that frees us up for any other jobs.

Misha is finally out of the woods.

Thankfully, hospital doctors find no other injuries,

but her accident leads to a summer in plaster, as her wrist heals.

Seeing first hand what can happen at a serious accident

gives the Helimed team a unique insight into the risks

many of us take every day to get from A to B.

So it is perhaps surprising that some of the paramedics are keen motorcyclists.

It's a Sunday afternoon,

and a motorcyclist has come off her bike on the A64 York bypass.

We're just wondering if it would be possible, could you get in touch

with the police and get them to shut the carriageway?

Roger, will do.

Pilot Mark Griffith needs to put Helimed 99 down

on the dual carriageway, but traffic is still flowing on one side.

Both carriageways are running at a stop there, the traffic.

Ah, yes. I see it there. Spotted, yes.

Paramedic Sam Burgess is a keen biker himself,

and dreads this sort of emergency call.

I try not to think about it too much at the time,

but when you think about it later on, in the cold light of day,

then, yeah, it does make you worry a little bit.

It's never going to end well,

when you're hitting concrete at whatever speed you're going,

and unfortunately, the stretch of road that this has happened on,

it's part of the A64, so it's quite a high speed limit.

If it's all right with you Mark, I'm not going to wait until we shut down.

-I'm just going to leg it across.

-Yeah, no problem at all.

The female motorcyclist is in a very serious condition.

Mark can't wait for the carriageway to be closed.

So he drops Sam and second paramedic Lee Davison nearby.

You all right, mate? Hello, love.

This is Mandy.

Hello, Mandy.

Believed to be a solo rider.

Right, Mandy, just relax this arm for me, sweetheart.

Mandy Plum was riding in the middle lane,

when she hit the central reservation.

She is unaware she has lost her foot.

If we can find it, then we'll take it with us.

One passer-by happens to work at the local hospital,

so she's helping out.

Her mother saw what happened.

My daughter works at Scarborough Hospital, so she knows what to do,

so just tried to assist and cover her leg up.

Her foot was completely off.

She was complaining her leg was really sore, really sore,

so what I have done, I've wrapped it up in my coat to keep it clean,

until the first-aiders came, the ambulance and everything.

My right leg's dead.

It's all right sweetheart, don't worry, they've popped a tourniquet on it

because there was a bit of bleeding down there,

so we just want to get that under control, all right?

-RADIO:

-Can you see there should be a rolling road block put into place,

coming down from the Scarborough side? Can you see that?

Not just yet, but I'll let you know when I do.

The air ambulance needs to touch down,

but there's too much traffic around.

I just need them to shut this carriageway, just on that car there,

that's all, just till we get aircraft on.

Even if you go to the end and stop it.

We've just had a problem getting a road block in,

to be able to get the aircraft to land.

It's just a priority we try to get the aircraft near to where we are.

We don't want another accident happening if we're landing, and there's still traffic going.

So we're going to wait for the police to put this road block in,

land on, put the patient on and fly them to Leeds.

Mandy, how bad's that pain, sweetheart?

Just my leg, from my knee downwards.

-Is it just that right leg?

-Yeah.

OK. How bad is it on scale of 0 to 10? How bad is it?

-It's 10 or 11.

-About a 10 or 11.

OK, let's us get you something for the pain.

Mandy hit the central barrier 70 metres from where she was found,

and her bike stopped 300 metres further down the road.

Officers find Mandy's biker boots, but cannot find her missing foot.

Mandy's husband is not injured, but is in shock.

We're you going somewhere nice on your bike?

Is this LGI A&E? We've got a 52-year-old female motorcyclist.

Injuries, she has got an amputated right foot,

and some lacerations to her right arm,

nothing else-based obvious detected.

We will be with you about ten to.

Where limbs have been amputated in an accident, there is

a real risk of excessive blood loss.

Everything is done to stem the bleeding and numb the pain.

How's that pain in your leg now?

-MANDY:

-Still painful.

-Still painful, is it?

-It's dead and...

-Just feels a bit numb, does it? OK.

I guess it's just a vertical left straight out.

OK, you are clear left, the traffic is stopped.

Police officers have been unable to find the missing foot,

but they will keep on searching.

When people lose body parts you can reattach them

within a certain amount of time of the injury, so that's why

the police have shut the scene now and they're going to keep an eye

out for it, so, keep fingers crossed that they find something.

Helimed 99 bypasses the local hospital in York,

and heads straight for Leeds General Infirmary.

Surgeons are waiting for Mandy.

But, her injuries are too serious for her foot to be reconstructed.

Instead, her right leg is amputated below the knee.

I were in the right-hand lane, and then suddenly a gust of wind

just came across and, you know, drove me into the central barrier.

In a few months, Mandy will be able to walk again.

She will be fitted with a prosthetic leg.

I haven't got to feel negative about anything.

I've got to feel completely positive

and I'm looking forward to practising with these prosthetic

limbs and eventually getting one of my own, so I can walk again.

Mandy, determined to make the most of life there.

But what about motorcyclist, Nick Kane, who suffered

suspected spinal injuries after a similar bike accident.

Nick, you're normally fit and well, no asthma, no diabetes, no epilepsy?

No problems with your heart in the past?

In the next hour, Nick will find out the extent of his injuries.

He can't feel anything from the chest down.

Scans carried out by consultants

here at the James Cook Hospital reveal his spinal cord is severed.

This is how Nick will spend the rest of his life.

It was just a typical Sunday afternoon ride,

we were only planning to be out for a couple of hours, we'd been out,

we'd filled up with fuel, we were on our way back, and this vehicle

decided to overtake some stationary cars and head-on crash with Nicholas.

Not a day goes by that I don't see it.

I remember being laid on the floor, being told not to move,

which, my reply was, "Well, I can't, I'm paralysed"

I knew pretty much instantly I couldn't move,

there was nothing there.

I can't feel my legs.

I then felt like about five seconds and there was an ambulance there,

and the next thing I knew, I opened my eyes again

and I was looking at the roof inside the air ambulance.

I just kept coming in and out of consciousness.

Then I woke up again in A&E with, I don't know,

it felt like there were hundreds of people around me.

He's fought hard to live and he's done it.

We are on the up now, we are on the up and there is a life out there

for Nick.

You've got to keep a positive attitude, it's a day at a time.

Every day is different. You find something new you can do every day.

I'm sure his life will move on and he'll live a fulfilling life,

albeit sat down.

Yeah, I think that's the way we look at it,

it's still Nick, he's just sat down.

Nick and his family have not let this life-changing injury hold

him back and he is now training for the region's wheelchair rugby team.

We've had him home for nearly a month now, which is

absolutely wonderful - it was a long, long time, that six months.

Tonight, Nick has joined the Bulls, at Sedgefield, which is

the North-East wheelchair rugby group and he comes up twice a week

and practises with all the lads, which is excellent, socially

and for his fitness, as well, because it will build his upper strength up.

You get in here and it's the social side of it,

all of the lads are in chairs, as well,

so when you talk about stuff to them about what you're going through

everyone's been through it once or twice already,

so, it's brilliant being here.

Life's very different now, very, very different,

this has been a devastating situation for Nick and all of us in his family.

The positive attitude is what has got us through,

we have never once thought Nick cannot do.

That's what gets you through it.

Starting young hasn't done Bradley Wiggins or Andy Murray any harm,

but there are some sports where 11 may be a little early.

The Helimed team always has to be ready for a change of plan.

Paramedics Tony Wilkes and Paul Kilner have just been

stood down from one emergency call, now they're being sent on another.

'I have got a different job for you, at Grange Moor,

'which is out south of Mirfield,

'an 11-year-old

'off a quad bike into a tree and gone over a wall. Over.'

-Did you get that, Tim?

-No.

We've been retasked to Mirfield, which is not far from here, I think.

I'm just sticking it in now for you.

In a remote field, a young girl has crashed her quad bike at high

speed, throwing her over a wall and through a barbed wire fence.

We were going too fast and then she flew round bend, hit the wall,

over the barbed wire, and landed out on the lane, screaming.

She stood up, with blood everywhere.

Courtney's mum is on the phone to ambulance control and they can

tell the helicopter crew exactly where they will find her.

'The patient is near the red Mercedes van in the field, over.'

From the air, this field isn't hard to find.

It's right next to Yorkshire's tallest landmark.

OK, so you've got every moor here, so, village, road...

-So it's where them cornfields are.

-Yes.

Yeah, just take a right turn.

A red van, is that what they said the patient was in?

Yes, that will be the one.

Courtney has managed to stagger back to her dad's van, but she is

in a lot of pain.

I couldn't turn, properly, like, it got jammed, and then I just

crashed into the wall and I fell over the wall and I've cut myself.

-Oh, dear, right...

-She didn't put her helmet on just for that lap...

-Did you have a helmet on?

-No.

-No, right.

Try and keep your hand nice and still for us.

I was going over the wall and then it crashed, and then

I seen nettles,

and then I seen my dad, and then he climbed over the wall.

And did you get up straightaway, then?

I tried to, but I couldn't get up.

Were you trapped at all?

No, I wasn't, but I couldn't get up because of the pain in my leg.

She has been going round nearly all day

and then we were just stood here,

the next minute I heard a big bang, and the quad's on its side,

and I ran over there as fast as I could, looked, "Where is she?"

looked over the wall, she were over the wall, just getting up.

I saw the blood here, and her hands were cleaner, so I told her to put

her hand over the cut and hold it, and then we've walked back down here,

and as she's walking, she said, "My leg's hurting, as well."

You've closed your eyes, one moment, then. Let's have a little look.

Keep your arm nice and still for us, darling.

You're doing really, really well.

Oh, yeah, that's it, I'll cover that back up again.

But the force needed to throw Courtney over a five-foot wall,

means Paul and Tony suspect she may have other, less obvious but,

but potentially more serious injuries.

She's got some lacerations from the barbed wire, no head injury,

thankfully, but, our concern is as we have been treating her

is her thigh, it looks like it may be swelling slightly.

-Whereabouts is that pain, Courtney, just in here?

-Yes.

She has got lacerations there, but our main concern is that she

may have fractured her femur, so the long bone in her leg, potentially.

Right, darling, I'm just going to put that on here, right?

We have just popped a little neck collar on basically, just because

of what has occurred, she has been thrown over the top of that wall.

She isn't complaining of any pain, she wasn't knocked out at all,

but it's because of the mechanism of what's occurred,

and it's a precautionary measure more than anything.

Have you had a good day, then, apart from this? Yes?

You haven't damaged the wall, have you?!

SHE ATTEMPTS A LAUGH

With so many cuts, there's a lot of bandaging to do.

You will look like a mummy by the time we have dressed you up,

with all this bandage.

Courtney is clearly upset, but not just about her injuries.

She's sorry for damaging the quad,

but I'm not bothered about the quad to tell you the truth,

that's all she kept saying, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," but hopefully she'll be all right.

An ambulance has now arrived -

extra help to get Courtney securely fastened to a spinal board.

It will help to keep her perfectly still before she gets to hospital.

For us to fly her, it would actually be quicker by land ambulance.

She's just a couple of miles down the road, so hopefully she'll be all

right, but there is potential that she has broken her femur,

the long bone in her legs.

And dad has promised a gift to cheer her up.

He's promised you a ferret, hasn't it?

Typical Yorkshire lass!

Compared with a quad bike, ferret-keeping is a little safer.

She has got a series of cuts, one of them quite deep,

really, to the right side of her upper thigh.

So, basically, what we have done is just dressed those up -

she isn't complaining of any neck pain,

but just for precaution, because of what's occurred,

we've put a neck collar on her and put her on a spinal board.

She wasn't knocked out, at all, so these are all good signs.

Courtney spends nearly two weeks in hospital, having surgery on the

open cuts to her legs, arms and stomach,

but all the time she's dreaming about this.

Her first chance to put the accident properly behind her.

Today, I have been on my quad, I was going round,

and it was the first time I had been on it since I fell off of it.

Allowing her back on the

quad has been a difficult decision for Courtney's mum,

but it seems you just can't stop an adventurous youngster like her.

We were quite nervous for her, but it's just one of them things -

if she wants to get back on it, then fair be it, she can go back on it,

but we'll not push her into anything that she doesn't

want to do, we'll support her if she does want to do it.

Because I haven't been on it for a while, it was really scary.

I think with the what ifs and the what buts, it's just not worth

thinking about, she took her helmet off just for the five minutes

and accidents do happen from time to time, and I hope it's the last.

And as you can see, Courtney

and now has all the right gear for her high-speed hobby.

Something the Helimed team wishes all quad bikers were equipped with.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd