Stabbed paramedic back at work after miracle recovery
A PARAMEDIC is back on duty just three months after being stabbed while treating a patient.
The 39- year- old was knifed in the chest on a 999 emergency call- out.
Pictures taken show a bleeding Deena Evans, who starred in a TV show Inside The Ambulance, being treated by upset colleagues in Wolverhampton on July 6.
She was rushed to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham after suffering a chest wound and nerve damage.
Deena started her first shift back last Friday and West Midlands Ambulance Service shared a picture of her smiling and standing next to an ambulance. They wrote: “We spy a familiar face.
“Today was her first day back on the road since the incident, she had crew mate Charlie looking after her.”
Deena said: “My recovery is going well. I’m still receiving physio and counselling but it’s helping.
“I still have numbness in my arm but it so far hasn’t affected my job.
“My first day I was really nervous, I felt sick and felt like I couldn’t breathe but all the staff helped me, and my crew mate always makes me laugh so it was a good shift.
“The public support has been phe
nomenal, it really has been overwhelming. It certainly brings back faith in humanity, and I’m glad to be back doing my job.”
Deena and her colleague Michael Hipgrave, 51, were attacked after they were called to check on a man’s welfare.
Haunted
Neighbours said they heard “bloodcurdling screams” and the ambulance workers shouting, “Please help, he’s got a knife” during the terrifying incident.
Michael was discharged from hospital later on the evening of the attack after suffering a back injury, while Deena had to spend another two days receiving treatment.
She has previously told how she was left haunted by the incident and relives the horrific attack “every time I close my eyes”.
Deena said: “Things take time, physical scars heal but then there’s the mental scars after.
“It’s those things that’ll perhaps take the time and adjusting to what’s happened.
“You close your eyes at night and you relive the whole situation, every time you close your eyes. You just can’t get it out your head and it’s getting over that stage, being able to put it to bed, and at the minute, I don’t think I’m there. “We’ve had support from the [ NHS] trust, we’ve got things in place to deal with what happened.
“There’s not enough thank yous in the world for everybody for the well wishes.
“It is really overwhelming to know that people are there supporting us.
“I think it has been a bit of a shock for people, and obviously we’ve both got children. We’ve had to support our children with it as well because it is a big thing.” Michael added: “It’s been very difficult for my family and I’m sure it has for Deena’s.
“We had quite an emotional meeting with the staff involved, with lots of tears, talking and questions. “Although we already knew how difficult it would be for them being clinicians ourselves, being friends as well must have made it doubly hard.” Martyn Smith, 52, of Wolverhampton, is accused of two counts of wounding. He denies the charges and is expected to stand trial next May.