Episode 10 Helicopter Heroes

When the people of rural Yorkshire dial 999,

help can be a long time coming.

The Yorkshire Dales are as beautiful as they are big,

but if you're seriously injured in a landscape as gigantic as this,

your life is on the line.

But in the remotest parts of Britain's biggest county,

-they look to the skies for help.

-Look on your left.

Can you get in that grass field on your left? Go for that.

From high drama in the Peaks to high waters in the Dales,

the Helimed team's at the heart of almost every rescue,

bringing 21st-century medicine to some of Britain's

most isolated communities, and saving lives against the odds.

Today on Helicopter Heroes,

the team flies in to help with a first aider who became a life-saver.

Eric? Eric? Eric!

If I hadn't known what to do, Eric wouldn't be here today.

Thank you isn't enough.

There's a race against the tide

to save a little girl hurt at the seaside.

It's going to be under water in about 15, 20 minutes.

-We're going to get you sorted, OK?

-And the biker who broke 43 bones.

I heard the bang and he come flying over the top.

He's had quite a significant impact into this car which has turned

right, and he's been ejected and landed in this place.

It takes years of training to qualify as a paramedic, but a few

hours in a classroom can be enough to teach you how to save a life.

And every day, the Helimed team meets ordinary members of the public

who've put first-aid lessons into action.

It takes just two minutes

for the Helimed team to be ready for take off.

Engage, three greens. It's a normal 950 on the fuel.

But if you are alone and in cardiac arrest,

it's probably already too late to save you.

We've got a crew request

in a power station in Doncaster, South Yorkshire,

for a male who's in cardiac arrest.

Could be that the patient's been electrocuted

or a myocardial heart problem.

Thanks to a colleague trained to use CPR,

the team's patient still has a chance.

-RADIO:

-"Just an update from scene. Patient has had a return of ROSC."

Good lad, well done. Well done.

It's great news. ROSC means "return of spontaneous circulation".

Fewer than 5% of people given CPR survive,

and this patient's just become one of them.

Can you just confirm if the patient's packaged on a scoop?

But the team knows he's also likely to arrest again

if he doesn't receive prompt hospital treatment.

-Eric?

-Eric?

-Eric!

55-year-old demolition worker Eric Wells is lucky to be alive.

If it weren't for his colleague Sean Hewitt, he would have died.

Well, he were sat over there.

Kept going hot, cold, hot, cold, laid on the floor.

And then he got back up. I said, are you all right?

Not much response.

Then he come into the cabin, and then he started to rub his chest.

And that's where he collapsed in the chair.

And obviously we laid him down. Dean rung for the ambulance,

and I started to proceed with CPR.

Because he was really, really struggling for breathing.

He was cold, and everything else. So I just started CPR straightaway.

Just relax. We've got your colleagues here. It's the ambulance service.

We're going to need to keep him as flat as we can, all right?

So we're going to go straight out onto the ambulance.

Eric is partially conscious, and his heart rate is very weak.

All right, guys. Ready, steady, lift!

Eric, just relax your head back.

Sean has been trained in first aid by the St John Ambulance,

and this is not the first time he has saved someone's life.

The second time I had to use it was in a car accident when a woman

got completely smashed by a tree,

straight through the side of the car.

Only the second time that I've had to use it, but it's come in handy.

As long as he's all right, that's all we're bothered about. So.

I'd do it for anyone.

How's that? Is that better for your head?

Cheers, boys, thanks very much. Appreciated.

Helimed 98 is ready to leave, but Eric's not out of the woods yet.

He appears confused.

Victims of heart attacks can suffer brain damage

-as a result of lack of oxygen.

-Just relax, relax.

The team wants to get him to the Northern General Hospital

-in Sheffield as quickly as possible.

-Eric! Eric, keep still.

We don't want him kicking his foot about.

I'm just go to try and slip him through. That's it. Eric.

We are the ambulance service. Just keep still, please.

We're trying to help you out. You had a heart attack.

-Are you all right in the back?

-Eric is very agitated.

It's a common symptom of patients whose brains have been

starved of oxygen, and it's not a good sign.

At 1,000 feet, restraining him is all the paramedics can do.

He's pulled his line out, so watch yourselves on the blood. Keep still.

Keep still.

All right, guys?

He became very combative, trying to wiggle his legs out,

his arms were punching.

We literally had to lay on top of him just to hold him down

and keep everything safe.

Just get him up there and see what happens.

A cardiac arrest can cause irreparable damage to the heart.

In the next ten minutes, the doctors will X-ray Eric and begin surgery

to open out the blocked blood vessels that caused his attack.

His long-term outlook will take longer to emerge.

When the sun shines, North Yorkshire is a perfect holiday hotspot.

Shielded from the worst of the weather by the Pennines,

parts of the county are actually as dry as North Africa.

But locals will tell you you can also experience

four seasons in one day here, and today is one of those days.

-It doesn't help with this rain.

-Not at all.

Helimed 99 is fighting the weather to reach a badly injured biker

high on the North York Moors.

-I think we're getting hailed on.

-It's not nice, is it?

The crew knows high ground and low cloud

are a deadly combination for pilots.

Is it up on the hill? We just don't know really, do we?

There's no-one on scene that can give us a grid reference.

That's not great, is it? There is somebody there, is there?

-Is that somebody?

-Is that somebody at two o'clock?

And are they gesticulating?

Yes, they are. There we go. We've found it.

-Hi, guys.

-All right?

-Yes, I am. How you? Peter, pleased to meet you.

I see you are using the bikes as a bit of protection.

That's exactly what we need. Tell me, what's been happening to you?

I came down here and went into a ditch

-and went over the handlebars, and the handlebar went into my groin.

-OK.

I think it might be a pelvis trapped or something like that.

It might be bruising, but I'm a bit out of... A bit bruised.

-A bit bruised and sore.

-And then they took me to the bike,

and I passed out for about ten seconds, apparently.

Pete Hitchcock's up here from London.

He had been out riding with his son when he lost control of his bike.

It's pretty blowy.

He just drifted to the side, you can see the puddle there.

He's just gone round it a bit,

gone onto the grass, the wind's blown him

and he's gone into that ditch and over the handlebars there.

When you stood up, could you put weight on that same leg?

Not really, not on the right leg.

The weather is getting worse, and Sammy has to adapt her treatment.

Given the condition of the weather,

I don't really want to strip you off.

I just need to see if you have bleeding anywhere.

-Have you felt anything running?

-Pete pulled himself out of the ditch.

-Actually in your groin area?

-It wasn't like this earlier.

It was lovely and sunny. Then he crashes, and the weather rolls in.

Sammy's flying suit is meant to be waterproof,

but nothing can withstand rain like this.

Whoo. Right, then.

And then what we'll do is we'll put you on a board

and we'll carry you to the aircraft and have a proper look at you.

But I don't want to be stripping you off where you are, all right?

Whereabouts do you live, Pete?

-London. Harrow.

-Oh! Welcome to the beautiful Yorkshire.

-I'm sure it's July next week.

-Pardon?

-I'm sure it's July next week.

And all we're getting is a hailstone gun, is that right?

It was sunny when I set off.

Oh, bless you.

There aren't enough people to carry Pete to the helicopter.

But then, out of the gloom, help is on its way.

We're going to lay him down onto this board. Ready, steady, roll.

Ow! That hurt.

Let us help you straighten that leg. Can you lay flat on your back?

-Or have you got back protectors on?

-No, pull me round here.

Ready, steady...

If you go to the side of the aircraft, to the left.

That's got to be a bit better, bud. Out of the wind.

Couldn't do anything out there, could we?

It turns out Pete has a fractured pelvis.

His is a minor break,

and thanks to prompt treatment from the Helimed team,

he'll be able to head back to his home in London ten days later.

It was a beautiful day when I left the airport at Leeds Bradford,

but by the time we arrived up on the track,

it was Yorkshire at her finest.

It was horizontal hailstones followed by lashings

and lashings of rain. The patient was soaking wet and so was I.

I'm pleased to report that despite a fractured pelvis,

he's made a great recovery.

I hope he finds it in his heart to come and visit Yorkshire again.

The North York Moors National Park covers 550 square miles.

Its rolling hills stretch from the Vale of York

all the way to the coast.

But the part of the park that keeps the Helimed team most busy

is Dalby Forest.

8,000 acres of woodland concealing one of the UK's most popular

mountain bike tracks.

Today, another young rider has come off.

We go there that frequently, there's already a mark on the map.

What, Dalby Forest? Funny old thing, mate.

Pilot Chris Attrill needs to find the clearing in the forest

to bring Helimed 98 down.

He's been here so many times before,

Chris already knows the best place to land.

-I'm assuming it is the hollow, isn't it?

-That's what we were told.

The accident was witnessed by several other riders.

Good Samaritans, eh? Is he on his own, or with his parents or anything?

Tom was attempting a tricky section of woodland track when he came off.

It's feared he has a neck injury.

You all right there, Tom? How are you doing down there?

You're getting cold?

We'll get you off the ground pretty quick, all right?

Off-duty staff from York Hospital's A&E unit

were enjoying the track themselves.

They've been making sure Tom's injury is protected.

-You've not hurt yourself anywhere else, have you?

-No.

Is it all right if I have a little feel? What were you doing?

-I was on the track there and I fell off.

-You fell off?

Were you not paying attention?

Tom's family weren't surprised by this accident.

-He's always coming off his bike.

-He's done it loads of times.

I trusted him to do it on his own,

-but unfortunately he's fell off this time.

-Right, Tom.

What I need you to do is just lie there.

On my call. Everybody all ready?

Ready, steady, move.

Look at the mud there.

With suspected injuries involving the neck, all patients must wear a

surgical collar, and some, like Tom, will be strapped to a spinal board.

He was complaining of a bit of tenderness of his C-spine, so I just

made sure he didn't move his head at all and things like that.

I thought it was probably best to call an ambulance.

Making sure Tom is properly strapped in and perfectly still

will ensure if there is any serious injury to the neck,

it won't be made any worse.

Ready, steady.

The Helimed team's used to carrying injured mountain bikers

out of these woods, but Tom's younger than most.

They don't often come this size, do they?

Helimed 98's going to fly him direct to the A&E unit

at Scarborough Hospital where his neck and back will be X-rayed.

He's come off that track there with his helmet on, and it doesn't

sound like he's knocked himself out, but he's saying his neck hurts.

So, a nice little flight to hospital for him,

and then hopefully get on with the rest of his holiday.

His dad Dave will make the short flight with Tom.

Staff at Scarborough Hospital will be only too familiar

with Tom's case.

They've had to treat up to three riders a day with injuries

suffered in the woods.

How you doing?

Like most of the casualties, Tom turns out only to have

minor injuries, and is sent home the following day.

But paramedics know if you're called down to the woods today,

you shouldn't be surprised if you're called back tomorrow.

Helimed 98. We're on to the crew at the moment.

They've just arrived with the patient. They're asking

have you identified the location of their vehicle yet. Over.

No, that is a negative.

Down in the trees is a horse rider

who's come off after hitting a branch.

There's the ambulance there. We've got it. Two o'clock.

Where are they from there, then?

They've just said about half a mile in some woods.

You got woods all round, haven't you?

Roger. Me and me mate will both come down there.

We've got reports that someone's fallen off a horse, and we're just

going to go down now and see if we can give them any assistance,

because at the very least, it's going to be quite a long walk

for them, so the more people that can help carry the patient, the better.

I've never been in this wood before.

We do some training with Mountain Rescue sometimes

in the next one over, St Ives area.

It's fairly similar. It's this kind of woodland, with lots of footpaths

running through it, obviously.

So, a fairly high amount of traffic for leisure activities.

Horse riding, mountain biking, walking, that sort of thing.

Undulating, this, for carrying someone.

Hiya.

The injured rider, Jane Houghton from Keighley,

has been knocked off her horse,

and land crews think she's injured her pelvis and her spine.

Yeah, we just had a little canter up the hill,

and we were laughing because we'd enjoyed it,

and my horse decided to walk underneath the tree branch,

and I was looking at my friend, and didn't see the tree branch,

and it kind of knocked my head right back.

I've just got a horse that has a tendency to go towards trees.

Jane was wearing all the right protective gear, but she fell hard.

There's no way she can walk out of here.

Looking at the terrain, we could do with at least another couple

of bodies so that we've got at least six of us carrying the patient.

It's going to be quite difficult and tiring.

We were just coming through the woods.

We'd had a bit of a canter coming up the bottom there which was

fine, and we'd just come back to walk, and we were walking up,

but there are some quite dangerous overhanging branches here

that could really do with being chopped off.

And unfortunately, the horse avoided some of the divots, and ended up...

The horse could get under the branch, but unfortunately

the rider couldn't, and the rider was taken straight off.

She's not in too much distress, over.

So crew will be carrying, over.

It's getting colder here in the woods.

They're going to wrap their patient up

as they wait for reinforcements to arrive.

The thing is, you never fall off when you're doing the dangerous things.

So when we were flying up the hill, you never fall off.

It's just when you're stood still.

The team's call for help has been answered

by two volunteers from St John Ambulance.

Right, one, two, three.

Everybody all right?

Carrying Jane out of the woods is going to be tricky

and physically demanding, especially on this terrain.

A bit awkward here, all right? Do you want to go on that side?

Jane's on her way by road to Scarborough Hospital for scans

and X-rays.

It's feared she has a fractured pelvis,

and that's a very serious injury.

She'll be out of the saddle for some time.

It's five weeks since demolition man Eric Wells was admitted to

hospital after a heart attack that would have killed him

had it not been for workmate Sean Hewitt,

who gave him life-saving CPR.

Despite needing five shocks from a defibrillator,

Eric's heart is recovering, and he hopes he'll soon be allowed home.

I don't remember anything on the day.

It almost surprised me how it happened,

and I don't know what time I had the heart attack or anything.

It's just a blank.

-Eric?

-Eric?

-Eric!

They put me into a coma for about ten days.

They tried bringing me round once, and me heart couldn't take it,

so they put me under again.

And I can't remember anything apart from the last four days

when they brought me

out of the coma to make sure I was fit to bring me up to here.

We're just trying to help you out.

It was soon after Eric came out of the coma that he was told

he owes his life to a workmate he hardly knew.

Obviously, I'm pleased he saved me life.

And I'm still trying to put a face to Sean.

If he hadn't have saved me life,

I wouldn't have met me grandson for the first time last week.

Because he was born while I was in the coma.

So that's a chance in a million.

At Helimed headquarters,

there's no doubt that there'd be more people like Eric surviving

their heart attacks if there were more people like Sean to save them.

There's no question that the gentleman that performed CPR

saved his life that day.

Just learning the basic techniques of how to recognise

somebody in cardiac arrest and how to start chest compressions,

it's invaluable, and it's something that everybody should do.

Without that gentleman that day, the patient would have died.

It's now four months since the day Eric almost died.

He's being looked after by family in Billingham on Teesside, and

he's about to be reunited with the man who saved his life, Sean Hewitt.

It's going to be interesting. I don't know how I'm going to react.

It'll be...

It's exciting to see him.

And thank him for saving my life.

Sean is driving up from South Yorkshire.

He's been trained by his employers in giving CPR.

He never expected to have to put it into practice so soon.

The last time I saw him,

we lifted him onto the trolley and I just looked at him,

and I thought, Eric, I hope you make it, because I've done my best.

And that's the last time I saw him,

and then he got took into the helicopter and took to hospital.

And that's the last I've saw of him or heard of him until today.

-How are you doing?

-Feeling better.

Are you all right, mate?

I appreciate what you did. HE SNIFFS

We wouldn't have been doing this four months ago!

I was going to give you a snog, but you had a big beard,

and I thought, no.

Eric has no recollection of what happened that day.

I found you in Abel's office slumped in a chair at the back

of the office.

I lifted you out of that chair, I laid you on the floor,

and I proceeded with CPR for at least 12 to 15 minutes.

I kept shouting your name and everything,

and there was no response.

And I'm sorry if I broke a rib or two, I don't know. I didn't mean to.

After about 15 minutes, three ambulances came.

From what I heard, I died nine times.

Thank you isn't enough. I don't know what I can do.

I'd have done it for you, Eric. I'd have done it for anybody.

-Thank you for saving me life.

-You're welcome.

I'd have done it for you or anyone.

Are you all right?

To hear you first-hand makes things clearer in my mind

about what happened.

And that helps me on the road to recovery even more.

Yorkshire's coastline's been shaped by the waves over hundreds

of millions of years, and life here still revolves around time and tide.

There's no shortage of reminders about the force of the sea here.

But every summer, thousands come to enjoy the quaint fishing

villages and secluded beaches north of Whitby.

Sadly, one day trip has ended in a nasty accident.

Helimed 98, visual traffic lining up.

I'm going to go direct to this location.

Initial reports are that we've got an 11-year-old child who's

fallen from the sea wall. A fall from any height can be significant.

I suggest that a wall at a coastal resort could be quite high,

so the chance of serious injury is quite high.

Is there a problem with tides? Do we know any of that information? Over.

Trying to speak to the crew now, but airway reception's very poor.

Paramedics Paul Kilner and Dave Appleby are heading

for Runswick Bay, a former fishing village, now full of holiday homes.

The village is built into the cliffs, and the only place

to land is the beach, but it looks like the tide is coming in fast.

Why don't I put it on the beach? He's cleared the beach now.

It may be easier if you just jump out and we ascertain where we are.

Pilot Andy Lister's a former naval officer.

He knows landing on the beach is a risky business.

Soft sand, incoming waves

and members of the public are all hazards he must keep an eye on.

I'd like to stay running until we know exactly what we're doing.

Andy will keep the engines running just in case.

If Helimed 98 developed a technical fault here,

£3 million worth of helicopter would be at the mercy of the waves.

The chopper is only a few feet from the sea,

and the water's getting closer.

He's going to be under water in about 15 or 20 minutes.

-The tide will be up to him.

-That's why he's kept it running.

Not knocked out. Complaining of pain in head and neck. Lacerations.

-Central or side?

-Central.

-Has she got any altered neurology?

-No.

Are you overly concerned with it?

We're concerned because she's 11 and she's in a lot of pain.

11-year-old Olivia Muncaster was on holiday

when she fell from the sea wall.

Hello. How you doing? You all right?

I don't know, you've got all these people staring at you,

asking you all these questions.

We are looking after you now. You'll be all right.

Ground crews called in the Helimed team.

The road out of the bay is steep with sharp bends,

and then there's a 20-mile drive to the nearest A&E.

It's going to get noisy, so I'll have a listen to her chest.

I'll go back and have a word with Andy.

Then I'll just stand at the aircraft.

We think the tide will be coming in in the next 15, 20 minutes.

Pilot Andy is anxious to be off.

Thankfully, the sea is calm,

but the tide's almost lapping around the skids.

Can you get some of the guys to help move this equipment,

because when he takes off, it will blow.

Are you hurting anywhere while you're laying there? In your back?

The back of my head.

At last, Olivia's ready to be loaded into the chopper.

-Let's just try and get this lass on.

-I'll not go any further than that.

Loading a patient with rotors running is something the team

tries to avoid. It's noisy and can be frightening for younger patients.

For pilot Andy, this is a moment of relief.

Olivia's being flown to the James Cook Trauma Unit in Middlesbrough.

-Just coming left a wee bit.

-You're good this side.

Olivia's mum, Helen, is coming with her.

Nobody expected a holiday by the sea to end like this.

Approaching for permission to land.

Paramedic Paul knows there's every chance his patient has escaped with

little more than minor injuries, but a broken neck is hard to diagnose.

Only X-rays will reveal the truth.

This is a day neither Olivia nor her mum will forget,

-and neither will pilot Andy.

-It was very problematic.

Although Runswick Bay was very picturesque,

selecting a suitable landing site was very difficult indeed.

We are always concerned that

if we land on the beach with the tide coming in,

we may not start the engines again,

so on this occasion we deemed it to be safer to continue running

with the aircraft while we loaded the casualty,

who was already packaged, before departing to hospital.

But there is a happy ending.

X-rays rule out a neck injury, and she's released after treatment.

Driving the roads of North Yorkshire takes you back to the days

when cars came with starting handles.

The lanes are narrow, winding and great fun to drive,

but if you're behind the wheel of a two-tonne ambulance,

you see them very differently.

The top of the Pennines is where Yorkshire meets Lancashire.

It's a barren and desolate part of the country,

where acres of moorland are punctuated

only by the occasional reservoir and the even more occasional road.

What are we going to, then, chaps?

-Somebody potentially having a stroke.

-Roger.

Today, the Helimed team has been called to a patient needing

help by one of the reservoirs.

The trouble is, no-one knows which one.

It would be very difficult for a land crew to get good access,

so we're just going initially to see if that's actually the case

and to see what we can do to help.

OK, we've got an ambulance down there, Dave, nine o'clock.

Yeah, I'm just going to talk to them.

On the ground, paramedics and police officers

are searching for the 77-year-old.

In the air, they can't see anything either.

You'd have thought there'd have been somebody with him, wouldn't you?

-Have they found somebody or...?

-No, they're walking.

But it seems everyone's been looking in the wrong place.

-We're here.

-Right, so we're nowhere near.

-It's over there.

-Right.

-Let's go. Where we going, then?

-We're going to the west.

-To the west.

Yep.

-OK. Round the corner.

-Yep.

Going down your side, Dave. On the corner.

Right, chaps, I'm going to park it in.

Hello there.

-It started with a pain across the bottom of my back.

-Yeah.

Alan Ledbetter had nearly finished his long moorland walk

when other hikers saw he needed help.

Their quick thinking could have saved his life.

He was really, really struggling to walk, just to keep on his feet.

We asked if he was all right and he said, "Not really"...

he just can't balance.

I got this pain across the bottom of my back.

-I didn't think anything of it.

-What type of pain?

-Just a pain, like...

-Was it an achy pain, was it a sharp pain?

Achy pain.

He was leaning to one side, quite pronounced, so we thought,

"That's not right." He fell over a couple of times.

We walked with him and helped him and he got a little bit worse.

How long had you been walking before that came on?

-Oh, four or five hours.

-And do you do a lot of walking?

Yeah, I get out at least twice a week.

Although Alan seems to think he's OK,

the way he's leaning to the left is worrying paramedic Dave.

Can you move that way a bit?

Right, OK.

Give us your hands. I want you to squeeze my fingers hard.

Both of them.

These tests on his face, arms and speech

can be a good way of diagnosing a stroke.

Right, it sounds to me like he's definitely had a TIA.

-A what?

-What we think you've had is what we call a TIA.

It's a transient ischemic attack. It's a little bit...

It's a very, very tiny stroke, but it only lasts for a number of minutes.

I would highly recommend that we get you down

to the local hospital for a check up.

Well, listen, I know...

but the thing with these is...

sometimes it's a one-off

and sometimes they can happen in another two or three hours.

If you're up here on your own and something happens,

you might not be as lucky as to have these good people here to see it.

Although Alan would rather finish his walk

and head to the doctors in the morning, Dave's having none of it.

I'm here to help people.

If we leave you now and something happens in half an hour,

not only will I feel very, very bad about it, I'll get sacked.

Oh, well, I don't want you to get the sack.

I don't want to have either of those feelings.

There's absolutely no road access to this one,

so the ground ambulance and the police officers are heading off

in the wrong direction. We've stopped them now

and we've returned them to the vehicle

and we're going to transfer this man down to the ground ambulance where

he's going to be transferred into hospital for a bit of a check up.

We've lifted with the patient. Transferring to the ground vehicle.

It'll be approximately one minute and we'll be back on the ground.

It's a short but, for Alan, a potentially critical flight.

Tail's clear.

-Yeah, I need to put my tail over the top here.

-Roger.

The wind's behind me. I can't do this, at the moment.

Basically, I think he's had a TIA.

Top and bottom. He says, "Can't you just...

"If I promise to see my doctor..." I said, "No, doesn't work like that.

"You could have another one quite easily

"and then you're not going to be so lucky."

And it's a good job he took Dave's advice.

At hospital, it was confirmed he had had a TIA or a mini-stroke.

Alan is now taking it easy back at home, very grateful for the

fellow hillwalkers who spotted the signs and possibly saved his life.

Making a living in the countryside is a tough business.

Yorkshire's farmers must keep one eye on the market price

and another on the weather,

which is why harvest is invariably the busiest time for rural builders,

putting up barns for the winter to come.

And, today, one of them has fallen 30 feet.

The crew on scene in there asked for us

because they said he's got a head injury.

With head injuries, patients can become aggressive

and uncooperative so, as a paramedic,

we can struggle sometimes to manage those patients

so there is a doctor en route should we need to sedate the patient.

-Clear on the left?

-Clear left now, Patrice, mate, yeah.

Clear on the right, thank you.

This chap's Darrell, he's 27.

He was working on the apex of the roof and he slid in the wet and

he's gone straight down the other side of that hedge into the road.

It seems like he's taken the brunt of the impact on his left shoulder

-and he's very dull on that left apex as well.

-Right.

Darrell Wood is lucky to be alive.

His fall was broken by a big hedge under the barn.

Oh, you've done that clavicle good and proper.

There was nowt we could do once he's up there.

He slid down and that's it, you can't do nothing, he's gone.

We shouted at him, no answer, so we jumped down to get him

and he was like dazed, concussed and that.

Got caught in the rain and then just one slip and he's gone.

Flying doctor Jez Pennell, medical director of the Helimed team,

has driven here expecting a patient with critical injuries.

This is a pleasant surprise.

-And your pelvis and your legs all feel OK?

-Yeah.

-I remember falling into a bush.

-Into a bush?

-Yeah.

-Right.

-So, the bush has broken your fall, has it?

-You've had a lucky escape.

There we go. Now, just lie, sit back. Sit back.

Darrell may not feel like it, but he's been extremely fortunate.

Just spin round, he's coming in feet-first.

You need to bring him up to chest height or head height if you're me.

Paramedics are trained to treat for the worst and hope for the best.

That's why Darrell has been strapped to a spinal stretcher

but he has none of the common symptoms of a neck or back injury.

He's being flown to Leeds General Infirmary where his first

appointment will be with the X-ray department.

He's been very lucky in that there's a really high bush underneath

the edge that he's gone over which has broken his fall

although he's still landed on his head.

I think if he'd gone the other way,

it would have been a completely different story.

And doctors confirm luck has indeed been on Darrell's side.

His broken collarbone and shoulder are painful

but for a man who's fallen 30 feet, he's got off very lightly.

On a summer's day,

Yorkshire's countryside is full of visitors seeking peace,

quiet and nature but for some, the lanes of the moors

and dales are an attraction in themselves.

This is biking country.

We're off to a motorcyclist who's had a collision with a car.

-It's saying three miles to go, mate, so it's got to be fairly close.

-Yep.

Visual. Visual, 12:00, dark green field, two miles.

Even before they've landed,

paramedic Andy can get a good idea of just how serious this crash is.

The 25-year-old rider has come off his bike

and flown right over a garden wall.

This is James, 25-years-old. He's come from there and landed here.

-And he was coming this way by the looks of it.

-Yeah.

He's got a fractured femur, both knees look to be dislocated,

-broken left arm, complaining of chest pain.

-Fractured left arm.

He's complaining of back pain as well. This is exactly how he landed.

He hasn't been moved.

So, at present, I haven't got a collar on him yet.

OK, no worries, mate.

We're going to get you sorted, OK?

How are you feeling at the moment?

-Pain, all over.

-Pain all over?

-How bad is it now since you've had morphine?

-It's getting worse.

It's getting worse, is it?

James has just become a statistic.

It's been a grim summer on Yorkshire's roads with

warm weather being blamed for a doubling in deaths among bikers.

In North Yorkshire alone, ten riders have died this year

and they weren't boy racers.

The average casualty is a family man in his 40s.

It was all in a split-second, I thought, "Where's the motorbike?"

And I thought, "Well, he must have gone round."

Then, all of a sudden, I heard the bang and he came flying over the top.

James' injuries have left him in severe pain.

He's got a number of things going on that maybe

we'll have to go down ket route.

Andy's going to use his strongest painkiller.

It's probably the only way they'll be able to

straighten his shattered legs.

-I think that's a definite dislocation on there.

-Yeah, OK.

-So we haven't straightened that properly just yet.

-No.

And that's an internal femur.

We're going to give you some ketamine if that would be OK? And hopefully...

It's a lot stronger than the stuff I've given you.

..that'll get rid of that pain.

Just titrate it to his response, mate,

and if it wears off after 20 minutes, we can give him some more.

This is an area where everyone knows everyone else.

-Already, James' mum and auntie are with him.

-All right, sweetheart?

He came on the phone and he went, "Mum, I'm really hurt."

I said, "Why? What's happened?"

He said, "Somebody's just hit me and knocked me off the bike."

I think the work they're doing is fantastic,

I just wish it wasn't my son that's lying there.

-JAMES GROANS IN PAIN

-It's all right, darling.

James flew more than 30 feet before landing in the garden.

Despite very extensive injuries to his body, his head is unmarked.

His helmet did its job.

He's had quite a significant impact into this car which has

turned right. He's been ejected and landed in this place.

He's got multiple injuries at this point.

He hasn't got a head injury which is also good for us.

He's got some limb injuries which have obviously caused him

quite significant pain and we've had difficulty mobilising him

from that point.

They're straightening his leg with a traction splint

but paramedics often find themselves caring for the other

victims of accidents - the parents and partners of patients.

We're going to pop him off to hospital in the fastest way to

get there and we'll take him into a specialist centre

which will be able to treat him for his injuries, do you understand?

We'll look after him.

Paramedic Andy knows his patient's injuries are very serious.

He needs the kind of diagnostic tools only the trauma centre

at Leeds General Infirmary can provide.

Helimed 99 can provide the speed.

Yeah, we're clear there. Can I pass him onto you?

-Wait a minute.

-I've got him here.

The LGI's doctors and surgeons are about to take over.

-Has it come back, that pain?

-Yeah.

-Has it?

And Andy's got quite a list for them.

This is James, 25-year-old.

He was riding his motorcycle at approximately 50 mph.

He's got pain across his chest, pain on his back, pelvis pain,

a fractured left femur, a fractured left lower arm,

a right distal fractured femur and that was bleeding.

With so many injuries,

James is already very fortunate to have survived so far

but with major internal trauma, the next few hours will be critical.

Doctors find James has a staggering 43 broken bones.

He spends the whole of the next day in theatre as surgeons

reconstruct his pelvis and limbs with titanium rods.

He spends five weeks in hospital and two months after the accident,

he's still using a wheelchair and unable to walk.

I shattered my leg roughly about there.

I've got the spike, whatever you call it, going up there.

My kneecap is split in half, it's actually got wires on it,

figure of eight.

My pelvis is cracked into three places.

Two bones are broken in my arm,

I've got a broken wrist which is now repaired.

Nine fractures to my ribs, my sternum's cracked across there

and two fractures to my back.

After so long in hospital, James is just pleased to be home.

He has many more months of physio ahead but his prognosis is good.

I've had quite a good recovery straightaway.

I was pretty lucky, very lucky, for my family's sake.

I'm not keen to get on a bike again.

And I'm pleased to say all of today's patients

are recovering well.