Episode 5 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 mph,

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 pop him off to sleep in an emergency anaesthetic.

..and town centres into helipads.

-Building 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 driver's fighting for his life

and paramedic Al fears the tank of his gas-powered car is leaking.

You know this car's LPG, don't you? I can smell gas.

The team carries out a life-saving procedure in mid-air.

-Three minutes to the LGI.

-Cheers, Jim.

The cyclist who did this to a windscreen.

I thought he would come straight through and head-butt me.

And lucky to be alive,

paramedic Dave treats a victim of Friday the 13th.

-You've got no pain in your back or owt like that?

-No.

When you practically need a bank loan to fill your tank,

everyone's looking for ways to get more motoring for your money.

And more and more motorists are turning to LPG,

liquid petroleum gas.

It's clean, green and, above all, cheap.

But, if you crash, it has its risks.

Between 37 and 36 on the M1 southbound, one car overturned.

There's a lot of people ringing in. One says three casualties,

so it might be a fairly big job.

That's the M1, that sort of snakes round.

We should...

It's going to go round like that, we'll just cut straight across

-and pick it up on the other side of that hill.

-OK.

Sounds like quite a bad road traffic accident

on the motorway, on the M1.

We know there's at least three patients,

so it sounds like quite a serious accident.

Some of our Ambulance Service doctors have been tasked to it.

Above the crash site, they can see how one car has flipped

and landed on top of another.

It's a tight spot

between the crashed cars and the motorway bridge,

but Steve knows it's his only chance of landing near their patients.

We're a bit close on the left here.

Yeah, there's some debris right next to it.

Some blowing around below you on the right, Steve.

Loose debris can get blown up into the helicopter's rotors.

If it did, the result could bring down the chopper.

-Am I OK to open the door?

-Yeah, away you go.

OK, you can go back...

20 metres.

I'll let him know before we shut down.

Chap looks to be in his late 30s.

There's been an RTC rollover, dragged out the car by passers-by.

His airway is clear, he's breathing, he's got decreased air entry

on the right side, in fact no air entry on the right side.

Omar Ahmed had been driving on the other carriageway.

It seems his car has flipped over the barrier

and landed on top of a car coming the other way.

I just want him on the aircraft, and we'll take him.

-Are you going to decompress?

-It doesn't need decompressing,

-it's not a tension.

-OK. Great stuff.

I immediately rang 999

and give all the details over the phone, really.

I just kept talking to him, keeping him calm.

Also, the other lady that got to him straightaway,

cos I think she was in a bit of shock, having seen...

been so close to the accident.

Those in the other car have escaped with minor injuries,

but Omar hasn't been so lucky.

I've only just literally arrived, mate.

I've had a quick word with Alison, it sounds like he needs ventilating.

Got a 20-year-old lad, it looks like, he's been in that car

that's rolled over and has then been hit by another car.

He's got a head injury and chest injuries.

He's quite ill, he doesn't have a very good pulse at the moment.

So, the doctor is going to intubate him now.

We're going to induce anaesthesia, get him intubated,

get him on the helicopter and off to the Northern General.

But paramedic Al has noticed something

potentially even more serious.

You know this car is LPG, don't you?

Sorry if I'm telling you to suck eggs,

it's just that I've got one and I can smell gas.

Omar's car runs on liquid petroleum gas,

and it's leaking from the tank.

If those fumes were to ignite, it could cause a massive explosion.

It needs to stay off for the time being,

cos there's LPG leaking out of that car behind us.

-You can hear it.

-Right.

We don't all want to go up in a big ball of flames.

Al's so concerned, he's switched their radios off.

But he knows the patient's too ill to move.

Open your mouth nice and wide, mate.

Open your mouth really wide for me.

Omar's breathing is worrying Dr Jez Pinnell.

He is not convinced Omar would survive a flight to hospital,

so decides to perform an emergency anaesthetic

right here on the motorway

and next to the overturned car that is still leaking gas.

These are potentially very dangerous operations.

Jez wants to put a tube down Omar's throat

so they can control his breathing.

But it's all happening just feet away from his wrecked car,

and the pressurised gas is still leaking.

Paramedics are highly skilled,

and able to use a wide range of powerful drugs

to help their patients.

But some cases are so serious they have to resort to minor surgery,

even in mid-air.

A horse's kick can be deadly, as those who work with them know.

Experts have calculated the hoof of a stallion can deliver

a force of up to a ton.

That's the equivalent of being hit by a small car travelling at 20 mph.

It's no wonder paramedics

treat the victims of horse kicks very seriously.

We do have a land crew on scene,

who are saying that she appears to have a fractured sternum.

If she's got a fractured sternum or fractured ribs,

she's susceptible to a pneumothorax, or a collapsed lung, so...

something that we've got to be mindful of, there,

so we'll give her a good check over when we arrive on scene.

At a stables near the market town of Wetherby,

Jan Bailey has been kicked in her chest by a horse.

Local paramedics examined her and called in the air ambulance.

Debrief.

43-year-old female,

she's been kicked mid-sternum by a horse that's 17.2 hands high,

so it's a big, sturdy horse, and it was a rear boot.

No loss of consciousness.

Somebody was on scene in seconds,

so she's not been lying in the field for ages.

She's got good air entry.

However, I felt the sternum, very tender.

Hello, Jan.

Hello. What's the pain like, Jan?

They kicked out and hit her in the chest,

and I was just this side of the hill,

so I came up the hill and saw her lying on the floor.

And then, obviously, I could see it was dangerous

so I rang my wife bring the car up, and realised it was

more serious than that, so rang an ambulance straightaway.

And they were here within three minutes.

Jan, can you remember what happened?

Yeah, can you tell me?

It seems like she may have some underlying injury from

this kick that she's taken to the chest.

If she has got a fractured sternum, it's possible that

she may have a pneumothorax or some other underlying chest injury.

So John's just having a listen to her chest now.

We're just going to repeat her baseline observations,

and then we'll see what happens from there.

Saturations, according to the responder who was on scene,

said that they were quite low when he arrived on scene

and she was quite cyanosed, she was quite a blue,

so oxygen levels have dropped somewhat

but they've come up nicely now we've got oxygen.

Jan's symptoms are very worrying.

The difficulties she has breathing

and the blue tinge her rescuers have noticed suggest

she has serious internal injuries to her lungs and, perhaps,

to her heart. She is critically ill.

I think we need to get you into the warmth of the helicopter.

They might want to have another look at your chest, just to make sure.

It's a lady who's obviously been tending to the horses,

and the horses have become a little bit disturbed,

and it's kicked out, unfortunately.

A big horse, at 17.2, it's caught her with the hind leg,

right in the middle of her chest.

So, it's winded her.

We don't know what sort of damage is underneath there.

You got your lungs in there, you got your heart,

and the top end of your liver,

so we're treating her quite cautiously.

'Airborne just south of Harrogate. Requesting a transfer.'

Helimed 98 is ten minutes from hospital,

but as pilot Tim lifts off, Jan's condition suddenly worsens.

She is struggling to breathe, and her lungs are collapsing.

Paramedics John and Darrell face carrying out a risky procedure

neither has attempted before... in mid-air.

-Tim?

-Yeah?

Am I OK just coming off the harness for a minute?

Yeah. Do what you need to do.

Without it, their patient may die.

Every year, a few people survive a serious accident,

only to have their injuries made worse by well-meaning rescuers.

Motorcyclists have been paralysed

by witnesses removing their crash helmets.

The fact is, it's usually safer to leave people where they lie,

even if that sometimes feels a little awkward.

Cycling is one of the best ways to keep fit.

It's a green and exhilarating way to get about.

And in places like Yorkshire,

it can also be a great way to see the stunning scenery.

But every year, 2,500 cyclists are killed

or seriously injured on the country's roads.

And today, Ian Rigby is one of them.

He's got lacerations around his eye and an obvious head injury.

Whether that extends to a fracture or not, I'm not entirely sure.

Flying paramedic Al Day,

who today is working on a land ambulance, found Ian here,

still lying on the bonnet of the car he collided with.

-What's your name?

-Ian.

Hi Ian, I'm James. I'm one of the paramedics as well.

I'm going to have a quick listen to your chest just before we move you.

It's a notorious bend.

This chap's on his bike

and coming perhaps a bit too fast round this bend.

It's a slippy road and the bend cambers the wrong way.

So he's slid off line a bit, come onto the wrong side of the road.

This pick-up truck was going the other way.

Just straight into the front of it,

smashed his face into the windscreen.

You're lying on the bonnet at the moment, Ian.

Everyone is fine in the car. Not to worry, mate.

-Was it parked, or...?

-No, it was just coming up the road, mate.

You've been coming down the hill, and managed to collect it on the way.

Not to worry though.

I just came round and saw him lying on the bonnet, basically.

I was only doing maybe 20 mph,

and I know he was going quite a bit faster,

so when I slammed on my brakes and panicked a bit,

more than anything else, so...

It wasn't a nice sight to come round the corner to.

He was speaking. He was OK. He was conscious,

just obviously didn't know where he was or what had happened.

He's a bit dazed, obviously, and he keeps asking where he is,

and if everyone's OK.

It's caused some serious damage,

both to the pick-up truck and to Ian's head.

His helmet has undoubtedly saved his life.

So, you've got a response car, an ambulance, and a helicopter.

You're doing really well.

But Ian's clearly confused.

-OK, what time did you get up?

-I don't know.

And there's one question he keeps on asking.

-Is everyone all right in the car?

-Everyone's absolutely fine.

It's a rare for paramedics to find their patient

in a position quite like this.

They need to get him safely onto a spinal stretcher,

which means Al needs to climb onto the truck itself.

Just clasp them together like that for us.

Al, if we can just roll to you, just ever so slightly, to start, mate.

Just a bit strange, Ian.

We're just getting you onto a wee board, to get you off the car.

Is everyone all right in the car?

You're lying on the bonnet at the moment, Ian.

Everyone is fine in the car. Not to worry, mate.

Ian's clearly worried about the driver of the pick-up,

but he's managed to escape any injury.

I saw him coming down, breaking, and he couldn't stop.

So I stopped, and before you know it, he's hit my bonnet

and into my windscreen.

I thought he was going to come straight through and head-butt me.

It happens quick, doesn't it?

When cyclists hit cars, they don't normally come off very well.

I think he's been quite lucky.

Just looking at the state of the car,

it's incredible that that's all that's wrong with him.

-Everyone's all right, aren't they?

-Sound as a pound, mate.

This repetition is a worrying sign.

He's now been asking the same question dozens of times.

This could be an indication of concussion

or something far more serious.

It's nothing to worry about.

The car's all fixable, no-one's hurt apart from you. OK?

It's a classic sign when people have got a head injury.

They'll just keep asking the same question over and over again.

This guy keeps saying, "Is everybody in the car all right?

"Are they all right in that car?"

Then two minutes later, he'll say, "Is everybody in that car all right?

"Are they all right in that car?" That's just, you know...

Hopefully, that's just concussion,

which is where the brain's had a bit of a shake,

but hasn't had any serious, permanent damage.

But it could also be a sign of a more insidious brain injury.

But we won't know about that until he gets to LGI and has his scan.

Leeds General Infirmary

has one of the country's top neurology units,

specialists in head injuries.

And as Ian lands on the rooftop helipad,

his confusion is increasing,

and that same question is still being asked.

Is everyone else all right?

Everyone's fine, apart from you. You've bumped your head.

-Is everyone all right?

-Everyone's absolutely fine.

You've hit a car and gone through the windscreen.

-Is everyone all right?

-Everyone's fine.

-Everyone else is all right though, uh?

-Yeah.

Your bike's all right, it's done better than your head.

-Everyone else is all right?

-Everyone's fine.

What it looks like he's done, he's landed on the windscreen,

possibly on that part of his face/forehead.

And there's a little bit of damage to the helmet.

Concussion can only be diagnosed once the patient recovers.

So we've got to keep a close eye on these patients.

Cos, on the flip side, if it ain't concussion and he's got some,

he's got a little bleed going on in inside of his head, you know,

that could be quite serious.

So serious are Ian's injuries,

he is taken straight for a CT scan

to check the damage to his skull and brain,

and it soon becomes clear that his cycle helmet has done its job.

Without it, he would be dead.

Instead, Ian is left with nasty facial injuries,

documented in a grisly series of family photographs.

The good news is that he is back home after just three days.

I had a big cut above my eye, around here.

Grazing down here, cut lip.

I remember the first five minutes of it.

And then, and next thing I remember is waking up in hospital.

Lift this leg up for me. Good lad...

So none of this Ian can remember.

It seems it was one of those accidents far worse for those who came across him.

My friend was out, he said he thought I was dead on the bonnet

when he came round the corner.

So that probably wasn't nice for him.

With his injuries now healing, Ian has already got back on his bike,

and is truly thankful for the two things that saved his life.

His £30-helmet and a three-million-pound helicopter.

I was glad that they did come out, because I think, without them,

it would have taken far too long to get to hospital.

Um... So they did a good job, really.

A very good job.

Now, let's return to the M1 in South Yorkshire,

where the team is about to perform a risky operation

next to the leaking gas tank of a crashed car.

It's an operation normally performed in a hospital theatre.

But, today, Omar Ahmed is being ventilated

in the fast lane of the M1.

Can we get a suction unit out one of the vehicles, please?

His car somersaulted from the northbound carriageway,

landing on top of a vehicle heading south.

It's left his LPG-powered car leaking gas.

And it's left him with extremely serious injuries.

The silver car just flipped up in the air.

We don't know really why it happened.

And the black car just literally slammed into the back of him.

Or the top of him after it'd flipped.

I hope he's going to be all right.

He's just got a lot of air in his neck, that's the big problem.

Dr Jez Pinnell has put Omar to sleep.

He now needs to quickly put a tube down his throat

so they can control his breathing.

The longer it takes,

the longer Omar's body is being starved of oxygen.

OK, we've got him tubed now, which is pretty good.

He's fairly under control, but his blood pressure is still quite low.

So that's quite worrying, obviously.

So it's a case now of just wrapping everything up,

get him into the helicopter, and it won't be very far to fly.

So he's been RSI'd on scene by the Consultant Anaesthetist,

who's flying in with him to LGI.

They'll be setting off from scene in about five minutes coming to you.

OK, he's not being ventilated at the moment so as quick as we can.

Unfortunately, his breathing went off on scene,

so he dropped his oxygen levels,

so Jez has arrived and responded by the ambulance service as well.

So we've put him to sleep with drugs

so we're controlling his breathing now

and his oxygen levels have come up to a normal level again.

His pulse rate is stabilised at the moment,

but clearly he's got some very serious injuries.

With crashes like these,

even ambulances can get caught in the tailbacks.

While firefighters start removing the barriers

to get all the road vehicles out,

Omar is leaving by air.

Heading straight to the Regional Trauma Centre in Leeds.

The Helimed team and ambulance service doctors

have done all they can.

Whether Omar survives is now down to the team of specialists

here in Leeds, waiting to take over.

In North Yorkshire,

a rider's canter in the country has ended in a terrible fall.

And the paramedics are growing increasingly concerned

about her condition.

43 year old Jan Bailey has been kicked in the chest by a horse.

The blow has left her with multiple internal injuries.

Fluid is building up in Jan's lungs.

It's reducing her ability to absorb oxygen.

Her saturation levels, or SATS, are dropping fast.

If the pressure in her lungs is not to kill her,

a needle must be pushed into her chest to release the fluid.

It's a risky procedure even on the ground.

-We've three minutes to the LGI.

-Yeah, three minutes.

Paramedics John and Darrell have more than 30 years' experience between them,

but neither has ever carried out this procedure on a real patient before.

Yet, Jan's life may depend on it.

Thankfully, it appears to have worked.

It's better now, John, low 90s.

-I might bring something...

-Actually, yeah, yeah. It's come up to 93.

The helipad of Leeds General Infirmary is a welcome sight.

Keep your eyes open, love.

For paramedics John and Darrell, this has been a tough job.

Just keep your eyes open for me, Jan. That's wonderful.

Once we got into the helicopter, she started to struggle to breathe,

and you could see how she was breathing with her...

how her chest was sucking in to breathe, to really get the air.

So we put in two needles to try

and relieve the pressure in the chest.

We think one of them may have been successful.

Her SATS picked up after that

and she seemed to breathe a bit easier.

In fact, when we got in here, her SATS had come back up to 92%.

And she was still talking to us and still conscious,

but I think there's some serious underlying damage to her chest.

We just called

the cardiac surgeon down for his lady.

She's got a pericardial effusion,

which is accumulation of fluid around the...

around the heart within the pericardial sack.

So they need to take her to theatre

to carry out this procedure in a sterile environment.

Before John and Darrell have arrived back at base,

Jan is already being wheeled into theatre

for delicate and potentially risky surgery

to seal the tear in her heart.

It's several days before she has recovered enough

to be moved to a normal ward.

Both my lungs, I think, had deflated

and, apparently, a hole had been punctured into my heart,

whereby the blood then had run out of my heart

into this sack that surrounds the heart.

So the blood couldn't be physically pumped around my body.

So I was finding it... My heart was finding it very, very hard to beat.

And I had very, very, very, obviously, very low blood pressure,

which doctors were very, very concerned.

Jan has spent all of her life working with horses.

She is well-aware of the dangers.

But sometimes even the most experienced person

can get caught out.

You know that, as soon as you let them all in the field together,

they are going to have that half-an-hour giddy moment and then

hopefully they will all settle down, which we thought they had.

Unfortunately, the equine dentist, it's just how it happened,

the equine dentist rang up wanting to do this horse's teeth.

So I went walking up to the top field to catch this horse for the dentist.

And they all decided then

that they hadn't finished having their giddy moment,

and they all kicked off again.

Jan's memories of the accident are hazy,

but she has got a bedside view of the hospital helipad,

so she has seen the Helimed team at work.

I've watched them bring a couple of people down the ramp.

And it's actually very emotional to...

Because I can't really remember coming down that ramp.

But it is very, very emotional seeing the work that the people do

when they're up there, you know, the firemen going up

and then, obviously, all the paramedics coming down.

And it is actually quite emotional when you realise that

that happened to you and it is now happening to somebody else.

Sheer bad luck plays a big part in many of the accidents

the Helimed team is called to deal with.

And there's one day on which no-one is surprised

the helicopters are busy.

It's Friday 13th at Helimed headquarters

and the day is certainly living up to the date.

Helimed 99 is out of action

grounded by a technical fault.

Which means Helimed 98 is being scrambled from its base in North Yorkshire

on a long-distance mission to a warehouse near the market town of Howden.

'..Continue with approach 125...'

And to approach 1250...

We just departed en route to a farm,

which is to the south of Pocklington.

We've got someone there that's fallen through the roof

on one of the barns.

Generally, these things are about 30 foot high

and could be taller than that.

I've got the gate my side, mate.

Pilot Chris Attrill is touching down

in the goods yard of an agricultural contractors depot.

-Watch that gate behind...

-Yeah, all right.

Roofer Richard Chatham was working 20 feet up when he slipped and fell.

He's in the care of a ground ambulance crew.

-Chest, abdomen, pelvis, legs, arms, all clear.

-Really?!

-He's been a lucky lad.

-He has.

Shocked workmates dialled 999

after they saw Richard plunge to the concrete floor below.

Driving that there, he was starting, started that one there,

and he was going to tie this one up, ready for sheeting it and slipped.

But it looks like their colleague has been very lucky

on the most unlucky day of the year.

You don't feel too bad, do you? Considering what's happened?

No, no, not really, mate. A bit of a headache,

-but I've chipped my teeth, I think...

-Yeah.

..so, a bit of pain from there.

And other than that you got no pain in your back or owt like that?

No, no, just a little...

-It was more side of his neck, obviously, with the height he fell.

-Yeah, a little bit of my neck.

Their patient's a dad to-be.

Richard's partner Julie is eight and half months pregnant

with a little boy.

Now Dad's being taken to the same hospital

where he's due to be at the birth in barely two weeks.

-So, we're going to load you on to helicopter.

-OK, mate.

-Hook you up to a few monitors and then we'll get off, all right?

-Yeah.

Paramedics know some patients, like Richard, can cheat death

or serious injury by a stroke of good fortune,

but on a day like today they're not taking any chances.

Richard will remain strapped to a spinal stretcher

until he's been scanned and X-rayed in Hull Royal Infirmary.

Back at Helimed headquarters, though,

the jinx of Friday the 13th has struck again.

We've just had someone fall over in some woods, in an inaccessible place,

so his Friday the 13th hasn't gone too well either.

But the day has at last thrown up some good news.

Helimed 99 is repaired and ready for action.

We believe that somebody's got a fractured ankle.

They're in some woods,

-so I don't know how close we're going to be able to get.

-OK.

Many of us may think twice about taking a flight today,

but paramedics and pilots aren't natures most superstitious people.

Erm, I am in no way superstitious.

It may be Friday 13th but, no, I don't believe in superstitions.

No, I'm very suspicious of superstitions, as it happens.

SAMMY LAUGHS

It has been in, in being serviced.

I've seen the engineers who assure me that the aircraft is serviceable.

There's somebody indicating.

There's some wires running diagonally across a field

and there's a man in black,

right next to the tree line, there, and he's waving at me.

Can you see him?

Their patient's fallen in the Bluebell Woods below.

Friday 13th!

Peter Barker was out for a walk in the woods,

with his wife and grandkids, when he slipped.

His ankle is badly broken.

Now the bluebells are the last thing on his mind.

I just felt my foot go back under. I just knew it was broken.

Never broken a bone before, other than ribs.

I just knew.

No joke, Chris, he's in middle of wood!

They've taken him across stream on a...stretcher, now,

and we've got air ambulance here!

Local paramedics know this is a relatively minor injury,

but on Friday the 13th luck is on no-one's side.

We could try again, to try and go across this bit,

so we don't go through that bog.

It's going to be difficult whichever way we go.

Peter is halfway down a steep ravine.

Above him is the treacherous slope that caused his injury

and below him is a beck, a steep slippery bank and barbed wire fence.

Rescuing him is going to be difficult.

-You hang onto the stick, like I am, OK?

-Yeah.

-Make your, put your arm down it. That's lovely.

-Yeah.

-You all right?

-Yeah.

Obviously, you're in a safety position

and we can sit you on a board so you're not on the floor.

Peter can see the problems, he's a professional pallbearer,

working for a local undertaker.

'I'm looking forward to being carried myself this time,'

hopefully I will be alive to comment on it!

Paramedic Sammy Wills knows the area well, she lives not far away.

These are the suburbs of Sheffield.

Because of where we are, given a stream, a barbed fence,

a bog and an incline.

Rather than risk carrying, and balancing, and slipping,

we actually requested mountain rescue.

Seems slightly overkill right now.

I'm feeling a little bit silly, but when you come to move him

we know we'll be doing it safely.

And with your best interests at heart.

I must admit, I felt embarrassed ringing 999, but...

Oh, you're in a predicament.

Couldn't get out of here by yourselves!

-That's exactly what we're here for.

-You didn't want to, did you?

You thought if I sat there for two minutes I'd be OK.

Back in East Yorkshire, the crew of Helimed 98 is hard at work,

caring for roofer Richard Chatham.

He's about to take off for Hull Royal Infirmary.

Is it round here that it's hurting?

Hurting in middle of me palm just then but it's not bad.

You might have damaged your hand a little bit, mate.

It's not bad, to be honest, to be fair. It's just...

But the paramedics caring for him

are optimistic he's escaped serious injury

despite falling 20 feet onto concrete.

Laceration to his head, but he seems to have got away quite well.

So, how did it... Did you just lose your balance,

-or did the roof give way, or what?

-No, I slipped.

I was just sweeping, sweeping the gutter and I slipped.

Hospital is a 15-minute flight away, bearing in mind the date,

pilot Chris Attrill will be keeping a good lookout during this flight.

But it's been lucky 13 for their patient.

He's been unlucky to fall through the roof,

but he's been very lucky, so far,

in that he appears to have very minor injuries.

Not very long, very long.

In the next few minutes,

Richard will begin a battery of medical tests

designed to rule out serious injury.

He knows that if something is found

his chances of being at the birth of his son will be in the balance.

Everyone's hoping his luck holds out.

Back in the woods of South Yorkshire,

another patient wishes he was in hospital.

Paramedics often have to improvise

and Sammy is bringing her expertise as a former Cub Scout leader

to overcome the obstacles that stand in her patient's way.

It's been more than an hour since Peter's fall,

but at last the cavalry arrives.

Hello, gentlemen! Thank you ever so much.

What's the nature of the injury?

A fractured left, queried fractured left ankle.

Peter is cold and the Woodhead Mountain Rescue Team

is a welcome sight.

And lift!

Good.

Even here, safety must come first.

Peter's been given his own crash helmet.

And move!

OK, whoa, hold, hold, guys. And move!

The team decide it's going to be safer

to climb the slope that Peter slipped down

rather than ford the stream and tackle the barbed wire fence.

It means he will be going to hospital by road.

The path to the top of the ravine is very slippery.

-Eh, you feel as light as a feather to me, Peter!

-I know!

I do to me as well. I don't feel heavy to me!

At last he is on his way to hospital.

He won't be forgetting this Friday the 13th in a hurry

and neither will his rescuers.

Looks clear left, looks clear right. Lead's out of the way.

Nobody else around and away she goes.

There's a fine line between good luck and bad luck.

You could argue that being involved in any road accident

is pretty unlucky,

but on this Friday the 13th the Helimed crew

are heading to someone who it seems

has had good fortune on her side.

Do we know which road it's on because there's two parallel to each other.

Well, it said Skipton Hall Road so we don't know for certain, no.

Well, that's a little bit, little bit confusing.

It sounds like there's been a road traffic accident

where a car has left the road, gone into a field

and turned over onto its roof...

..but the first call that came in was quite, sort of,

somebody was obviously quite panicked

and the information was quite sketchy, really.

The site of the crash certainly looks dramatic.

-We've got a vehicle left, ten o'clock, now.

-Yes, yes.

There's car in field, as well.

Two written off cars, a demolished wall, a ruined fence,

but two seemingly unharmed drivers without even a scratch.

The blue car turned over about three times,

over the wall and into the field.

Any pain in your neck at all?

She's been a lucky lady, this lady.

She's rolled her car off the road, through this wall, into this field.

As you can see, the car is quite badly damaged.

It's been, you know, on its side and on its roof

and she doesn't appear to have any injuries at all.

I suppose it's a testament to modern car design, really.

The cars are designed to be a lot safer than they were in the old days.

If that had been in an old Cortina

she'd have probably been dead, you know?

Despite Sarah Well's car being seen to flip three times

before it rolled into the field, she was able to get herself out

and walk straight back to the road.

Sideswiped, rolled a couple of times.

-Car's ended up as it is. She got herself out.

-Right.

Initially I saw her, she was stood up,

not complaining of any neck pain...

While paramedics may subscribe to the theory of luck and good fortune,

what they never do is presume

so despite Sarah seemingly being unscathed,

she's still being treated for the worst.

Members of her family have arrived to find out if Sarah's OK.

Mainly because of the mechanism of the rollover and stuff,

but I think we're all pretty happy that...

It's unlikely to be anything serious. It's just...

-Important to make sure.

-Yes. So don't worry.

We're taking some precautions and kept her spine in line,

but she's moving her neck normally

so we're happy from that point of view.

But no injuries to her chest, abdomen and pelvis

Lucky, given the amount of damage to the vehicles.

She's rolled her car over twice.

Technology saves lives on Britain's roads every day

and it seems Sarah's lucky escape here

has been down to the hard work of car designers.

'Modern cars have side impact zones, airbags and crumple zones,'

all kinds of safety features,

so she's probably got some clever people

at a car manufacturer in Japan to thank for her miraculous escape.

Back at Hull Royal Infirmary,

unlucky roofer Richard Chatham is on his way to get scanned,

X-rayed and examined by waiting specialists.

His 20-foot fall to earth

has left him with a long list of painful injuries,

but nothing serious enough to keep him in a hospital bed for long

and he's soon back home.

I've got a broken bone in my wrist here.

I've got a fracture in my elbow,

fracture in my shoulder...

Erm... two broken teeth,

which are very painful,

and I had a bad cut up here,

which has healed really, really well. I'm really pleased with it.

And as Richard came out of hospital,

his partner Julie, eight months pregnant, went in.

Eight days after the accident, she gave birth

and it was, like, three weeks, three weeks early.

I've been through a lot of stress, so probably was that brought it on.

BABY CRIES

Baby Olly is just a few days old. He's fit and well,

but his dad's slings and broken bones are causing a few problems.

'Aw! He's beautiful, beautiful. Can't wait to cuddle him.

'Really can't wait to get these poxy things off

'and give him a big cuddle. Fantastic.

'I couldn't have managed without Julie, without a doubt.'

She's been absolutely fantastic, amazing

and amazing when she gave birth as well. So proud of her. Fantastic.

Yeah, very hungry, aren't you?

'Friday the 13th.'

It's normally lucky for us, is Friday the 13th,

but I've changed my mind about that one now.

HE LAUGHS

Aw! Ssh.

The unlucky victims of Friday 13th there.

And I'm pleased to say all are now well on the road to recovery.

But what about Omar,

the motorist who was lucky to survive a dramatic smash on the M1?

Let's catch up on his case.

-I think he was from the car that was upside down.

-Yes.

He'd been dragged out.

Omar Ahmed had to have a roadside operation to help him breathe.

His car flipped over the central reservation

and landed on its roof,

leaking highly flammable Liquid Petroleum Gas.

I've got LPG on my car and the fact it hasn't gone up

in a ball of flames is quite nice to know, really!

It's always something you worry about,

having that LPG tank in the back of the car.

-Is that what they were getting so twitchy about?

-Yes.

Omar's condition was so serious,

the consultant anaesthetist took the decision to knock him out

on the motorway so he had control of his patient's breathing.

As the team land, they know Omar's body has taken such a pounding,

they can take comfort in the fact

that he has been brought by the quickest possible means

to the best possible place.

Over the next three months, Omar undergoes

a series of operations at the Leeds General Infirmary.

Broken bones are set and extensive nerve damage repaired.

THEY SPEAK IN NATIVE TONGUE

At Omar's home in Nottingham, friends and neighbours

have been comforting the family.

Omar's dad was faced with a visit every parent dreads.

That knock at the door from the police.

As soon as the officers told us

that he was airlifted,

um...we actually expected the worst.

We did not know what to expect.

And since then, he's faced the 140-mile round trip

to see his son at hospital in Leeds.

It's a journey that takes him up the M1

and past the scene of the accident that almost killed his son.

And next, just hold it down.

Now Dad is here every day, helping Omar's rehabilitation

after the crash which his son can barely remember.

I was going up north,

towards Bradford and all of a sudden, the car lost control.

And it just span and the next thing I know, I was in hospital.

-I was unconscious for at least five or six days.

-Five days.

To be honest, I have no idea what happened in that accident.

But the list of injuries he picked up is a clear reminder

of just how close he came to death.

I had a broken back.

I had three fractured ribs.

I've got nerve damage in my arm,

for which they had to do an operation around my shoulder,

and I had a fractured femur.

On the day of the crash, Omar was driving his dad's car.

It's really bad, especially the right side.

-It's all gone inside.

-Yes.

Both of them know how lucky he is to be alive.

I mean, there is no front end left, no bumper and no radiator.

No lights.

There's nothing left on the front.

And on the side it's all gone inside.

And Omar has since heard of the bravery of the passers-by

who pulled him free from the wreckage,

and of the firefighters, doctors and paramedics

who took a calculated risk to save his life.

They said they could smell gas leaking from the car.

So it was definitely brave of them to help me

and save my life, basically.

I do feel lucky, after seeing the pictures of the car and everything.

I am quite lucky to be alive.

And I'm glad to say Omar is now home and recovering well,

but it will be a while before he's back behind the wheel again.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd