Cyclist Sharon so grateful for air medics after horror crash
A DERBYSHIRE teacher has spoken of her horror crash and how the air ambulance came to her rescue.
Sharon Stone lost control of her bike as she was riding down a hill in the Derbyshire Dales.
As she came off the bike she tried to aim for the grass verge on the other side of the road but, unfortunately, her left leg hit a telegraph pole with “great force”.
She suffered severe vere injuries, including a segegmented fracture of her r tibia and fibula and compartment syndrome – a painful condition that occurs when pressure within the limb builds to dangerous s levels. This pressure ure causes decreased blood lood flow, which prevents s nourishment and oxygen from reaching nerve and muscle cells; quickly causing a permanent limb-threatening injury. She also broke her left hand.
Passers-by stopped to help and the friend Sharon was cycling with called emergency services.
A first responder arrived at the scene of the accident – between Stanton-in-Peak and Rowsley – follo lowed by the De Derbyshire, Lei Leicestershire and R Rutland Air Ambulan Ambulance.
The helico helicopter landed in a nearby field and the critical care paramedic and doctor on board were soon able to give Sharon strong analgesic drugs – normally only available in hospitals – to control the pain and relax her for the flight to the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield, the nearest major trauma centre.
Sharon said: “I was made very comfortable and don’t remember being in lots of pain. In fact, I was more worried about the nettles at the side of the road stinging me than my leg hurting.
“Despite being so badly injured I was very comfortable and quite relaxed considering the circumstances. It’s amazing that such qualified people came out to me, gave me the drugs I needed, looked after me and got me to the best hospital for my injuries and ongoing care.”
It took just eight minutes to fly from the scene of the accident to Sheffield compared with a bumpy road journey of approximately 35 minutes.
Sharon was in hospital for three weeks and during that time she had three operations to repair the damage to her leg and hand. She had to have an external frame attached to her leg twice and was unable to work much of the time it was in position.
However, a year after the accident Sharon, who lives in Chesterfield, enjoyed a cycling holiday from Morecambe to Bridlington and regularly rides up to 50 miles.
She said: “I will always be grateful to the local air ambulance for the care they gave me, and taking me to a hospital where I got really good quality care. Because the incident was in quite a remote location, I think travelling by land ambulance would have been much more traumatic and obviously would have taken a lot longer.
“I think it is amazing that the air ambulance is available for anybody in serious trouble and is operated by a charity. It was quite an eye-opener to find out that it isn’t funded by the Government and the helicopter keeps flying thanks entirely to donations and fundraising.”