A rock and fall star: Music industry executive survives after 200ft plunge from clifftop path
Walker breaks back and fractures skull in plunge but is back on his feet in 24 hours
Amusic industry executive who plunged more than 200 feet from a clifftop on to jagged rocks has told of his amazing survival.
Andy Godfrey slipped and careered down the cliff while walking along a coastal path on the Isle of Lewis.
He crashed on to boulders below, breaking his back and breast bone, fracturing his skull and cracking all of his ribs.
Andy, 60, who lives in London, said: “I was walking along a path on the clifftop with my partner Julie and friends, Peter and Fiona, when I slipped.
“I didn’t think I was near the edge.
“However, the next thing I knew, I was falling and I tried to grab some heather to hold on to but missed it.
“It was like an out-of-body experience. I don’t remember hitting the rocks at the foot of the cliff.”
It was the stuff of most people’s nightmares.
Andy’s friends stood horrified at the top.
Two ran for help and found a climber who happened to be trained in first aid.
Along with Peter he slowly edged down another part of the cliff face, at Breanais on the island’s west coast.
“They feared that if they had tried the same path they could have caused boulders to crash down on me,” said Andy. Meanwhile, an emergency call was made to the coastguard service and a rescue helicopter was sent.
Andy remembered coming to near the bottom of the cliff, with his friend Peter and the climber standing over him.
He tried to move but couldn’t. It was a blessing because if he had, a cracked rib may have ruptured his heart. Helicopter winchman James Lyne, 47, was on duty that day on the island’s capital, Stornoway.
“As we approached the cliffs we could see Andy at the bottom,” said James.
“My first thought was that he would have to have been incredibly lucky to survive a fall like that.
“I went down on the winch cable and Andy looked so relieved to see us.
“We assessed him and prepared to winch him on a stretcher up to the helicopter.
“He remained conscious throughout.”
Andy was fitted with a neck brace because, with his broken vertebrae, any movement on to his spinal cord could paralyse him.
On the ascent to the helicopter Andy remembers the downdraft from the rotor blades.
“It hurt to breathe and the downdraft made it even harder, so James shielded my face to make it easier,” said Andy.
He was transferred to Western Isles Hospital where Dr Tom Mallison, 33, was on duty.
Tom said: “My better half, Ella, a GP on Lewis, was by then at the
clifftop. The coastguard team brought Andy in and we stabilised and scanned him.
“I have never seen anyone fall from that height and survive. It would have killed most people.”
Andy’s luck continued. His skull fracture had not caused a bleed on his brain.
After being treated he was flown on to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow. There, surgeons operated on his vertebrae to repair the broken bones in his back.
“I believe that was to prevent me becoming paralysed,” Andy said. “I was back up on my feet 24 hours later.
“The doctors were keen that I started moving as soon as possible.
“They couldn’t believe how lucky I was to survive.
“I certainly feel remarkably lucky.
“Everyone involved in my rescue did a fantastic job – friends, coastguard crew, medics. “The NHS has given me wonderful treatment throughout. “I never did find out who the climber and first-aider was, the man who made his way down the cliff with Peter to reach me.
“However, I know that without them all, I would not be here today.”
Once he recovered from surgery Andy returned to London.
He was desperately keen to get back to work and indeed normal life.
Five weeks after his miracle survival, he returned to his job as vice-president of copyright at music firm BMG UK, whose clients include Kylie Minogue, Dido and Lenny Kravitz.
“I was bored at home and needed to get back to the office,” he said.
“I’m still in good shape and still feeling lucky to have survived.”
Andy has since returned to Lewis to do more walking. “We go up twice a year because I love the island and have good friends there,” he added.
“I have not gone back to that cliff, though.
“To be honest, I don’t think I will.”
The wild beauty of the Western Isles attracts hundreds of walkers.
The coastguard revealed that on that same Easter weekend they rescued a walker from the bottom of a cliff on Skye who had also slipped.