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helipad | www.daat.org
“Oh good – a free helicopter ride!”
Harry strapped in tightly ready for the flight to Bristol
Imagine the exhilaration of approaching a jump on your mountain bike, taking off, flying through the air and landing cleanly and smoothly, as your friends watch and prepare to follow on behind. Then, as you leave the ground to do the jump again, imagine the realisation as you fly through the air that the landing is not going to go well this time, and you crash into the ground with a nasty bang!
H
arry Adam, aged 13, from Sidmouth, had both experiences in June 2020. Harry was out with some friends and their dads for an afternoon of mountain biking in a popular area on Woodbury Common when things went horribly wrong. As Harry crash-landed, it was immediately evident that he had suffered some serious injuries to three of his four limbs. “Surprisingly, I wasn’t in too much pain to start with,” Harry said. “I guess it was the adrenalin that helped. And I knew I could move my chest and my head, which was a real relief.” As his fellow mountainbikers rallied to call the emergency services and to reassure Harry that help was
on its way, no-one realised just how many people would attend. By the time Harry’s parents Emma and Gary arrived, just a short while later, the scene was crowded with medics, including a Critical Care Car crew from Devon Air Ambulance, along with a land ambulance crew and personnel from HART (Hazardous Area Response Team). Harry’s accident had happened in a densely wooded area of Woodbury Common. Devon Air Ambulance Critical Care paramedic, Liam Kilbride, explained, “It was clear straight away that Harry had broken both his arms and wrists and his left leg and, although the land ambulance crew
had already given Harry ‘Entonox’ to manage his pain, we needed to administer further pain relief as quickly as possible. But, for various reasons, it wasn’t possible to canulate by an intravenous line and we had to use an intra-osseous injection, straight into Harry’s shin, through which we could then administer the drug, Ketamine. While Harry was sedated, we were then able to splint his limbs and prepare him for the flight to hospital. The whole time, however, Harry was the bravest patient I’ve met. He was such a trooper and never once complained about anything!” With Harry having had such major trauma, back up was called for from Devon’s
Air Ambulance, to convey him to Bristol Children’s Hospital. Gary and Emma were at the scene and were grateful for the expertise and skills of the medics to ensure Harry was as comfortable as possible. It was all hands-on deck to help extricate Harry from where he’d fallen and take him by stretcher to the helicopter in a nearby clearing. Mum Emma explained, “When we arrived, I could see that Harry’s limbs were really deformed but I was so reassured that he was absolutely in the best possible hands. He was talking to us so, even though it was really hard not to be able to go in the helicopter with him to Bristol, we knew he’d be ok.” When asked what he’d
