A man is encouraging people to support their local air ambulance service after both he and his stepson were airlifted in separate incidents.
John Wilson, 70, who is originally from Bolton, near Appleby, required the help of the Great North Air Ambulance Service in October 2009 following a fall from his roof while trying to repair his chimney.
He said: “My first wife was seven months into recovery from open heart surgery and advised me strongly not to attempt our chimney reconstruction because of the frost and she had a bad feeling about the day.”
Mr Wilson reassured his wife he would be safe, but while he was moving from his converted stepladder to his roof ladder, the locking pin failed and he fell approximately 8ft.
He said: “Suddenly I was standing on air alone, almost in slow motion, I fell backwards to the ground landing on the corner of a concrete step.
“I found it hard to breathe, so struggled up and made my way indoors. My wife said that she was going to get help; I said that I’d be okay once I could get my breath back but I soon started to feel pain, so she called for an ambulance.”
It was suspected that Mr Wilson had broken bones and possibly injured his back so the critical care team from air ambulance was requested to assist the North West Ambulance Service.
The Great North Air Ambulance arrived in a field near Mr Wilson’s bungalow, and the team worked alongside paramedics to treat him at his home, before airlifting him to the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle for further treatment.
He said: “They were brilliant. I had already received some gas-based pain relief and they had to carefully straighten me out and place me on a backboard type stretcher. I felt so stupid to have not listened to my wife’s advice as I was carried out to the waiting helicopter.
“I’ll never forget the skills of the pilot when he landed at the Cumberland Infirmary. As I later found out, I had five broken ribs, a broken shoulder blade and a punctured lung, yet never felt any bump at all as we landed.”
After several scans and X-rays, and a lot of pain relief intravenously, Mr Wilson was discharged after six days and continued to recover at home for a few months.
He said: “It’s very ironic that I spent the best part of my working life in the fire service, sometimes being 100ft above the ground without grief, yet I fell 8ft at home and broke so much.”
Since his incident, Mr Wilson has been donating to the air ambulance service monthly, and even increased his payments in 2020, when the charity was affected by the lockdown restrictions which were imposed after the outbreak of Covid-19.
He said: “I wanted to give something back to show my appreciation for all that the air ambulance did. We weren’t too well off, so I set up a regular donation each month and once I started to receive my state pension, I increased my donation. I’ll never be able to fully repay their efforts, but every little helps.”
Mr Wilson now lives in Eastbourne with his second wife.
Unfortunately, his stepson Martyn Lee, 56, required the help of his local air ambulance service following a motorcycle collision in 2016, and while thankfully he survived, he’s been left with life-changing injuries.
Mr Wilson said: “He was riding to work on 12 October 2016, when a car driver did a U-turn in front of him. The accident trashed the car and his bike. He had both wrists broken, his pelvis also and a nasty cut to one of his legs. Initially the police thought that he’d died.”
Martyn was treated on scene and airlifted to hospital by Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex and underwent surgery before being discharged home. Unfortunately, the incident left him needing a crutch to walk and he now suffers with poor function in his wrists and hands.
Mr Wilson began supporting that charity with a monthly donation.
He said: “Following his care, with his agreement, I have been donating regularly to their charity. We are very grateful that we didn’t lose Martyn and will always be eternally grateful to both air ambulances for such great care.
“I’d ask anyone that can, to consider a regular donation to their local air ambulance, none of us plan to need to use it, but when the need arises, it’s a brilliant service.”
