Blood brothers
Dog walker tells how hero bus driver used belt on leg injury to keep him alive
A SHOP worker has come face to face with a bus driver who saved his life after a horror road accident. Andy White’s leg was almost severed when he was hit by a van as he chased his beloved Labrador Buster on to a busy road. He was losing so much blood that he only had minutes to live. Quick-thinking Graham McPherson ran to his aid. He took off his belt and strapped it around Andy’s leg to stop him haemorrhaging to death. When paramedics arrived, they performed an emergency transfusion at the scene after realising the 26-year-old only had four minutes to live. Andy was airlifted to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, where his right leg was amputated. His fiancee Angela Strange said: “Andy is lucky to be alive and he has Graham to thank for that.
“His leg was hanging on by a bit of skin and he was losing so much blood.
“When Graham saw what was happening, he ran over to help Andy.
“He took his belt off and strapped it very tight around his leg to try to stop the bleeding. We have since found out he is an ex-Army man so he knew what he was doing.
“The paramedics told us this is the reason Andy is still alive today.
“We are so grateful as things could have been very different.”
Angela said Asda worker Andy has been having physiotherapy and is now in a stable condition following the accident in Harthill, Lanarkshire, on June 22.
She told our sister paper the Wishaw Press: “He’s doing great now and has a very positive outlook on the future. He’s an inspiration to all of us. The way he has handled what has happened to him has been amazing. His life changed in a flash yet he is still so happy.
“Of course, things are going to be very different and we are all going to have to adapt to lots of changes but we have no other choice.
“We just feel so lucky to still have Andy with us today.”
Andy’s family put an appeal on social media to try to track down bus driver Graham as they were desperate to thank him for what he had done.
In less than 24 hours, he had been found and asked if he could visit Andy in hospital.
Angela added: “It was great to meet the man responsible for saving Andy’s life.
“He’s our hero. Nothing we can ever say or do will be enough to thank him.”