Car crash victim's fiancee praises air ambulance
4:19pm Sunday 6th September 2009 in News By James Nadal
THE fiancée of a car crash victim said his dramatic rush hour rescue by air ambulance crew opened her eyes to the “brilliant” work they do.
Motorcyclist Daniel Miller, 23, of London Road, High Wycombe was knocked off his bike by a car, leaving him lying stranded on the middle of the busy London Road in Amersham on May 6.
He suffered a broken leg - his femur was fractured in four places - and a ruptured bladder.
A Thames Valley and Chiltern air ambulance took him to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford - reaching it in around just 15 minutes - compared to the possible hour or more journey by road.
Fiancee Gemma Jackson stayed by his side for every minute of the eight hours allowed for visiting each of his six days at the hospital - and said the accident brought them closer.
They were engaged soon after he had been released.
However, she said it had been a trying experience.
She said: "His brother phoned me to say that he had had an accident but Daniel had only phoned me five minutes before to say that he was on his way to his mum's place.
“I thought his brother was winding me up.
The mother-of-two said: "All he could say was he’d been in an accident and was being airlifted to hospital, I didn't know any more at that stage.
“I was quite worried and I travelled to John Radcliffe not knowing what was wrong with him at all.
“If the ambulance had picked him up they would have had to get through the rush-hour traffic - it would have taken a long time but the air ambulance only took about 15 minutes.”
Paramedics were able to give Daniel pain relief drugs which are not available in a road ambulance.
Gemma said she had not been aware that the ambulance operated in Buckinghamshire but now wanted to spread the word.
The accident has not put Daniel off motorcycling but he will not get any encouragement from Gemma.
She said: “I don't want to be receiving that I'm call again.“ Daniel’s memory about the accident is hazy but he recalls the car hitting the front of his bike.
“I can't remember much about it. I was lying in the road, waiting, trying to get up but nobody what would let me,” he said.
He praised the air rescue crew for doing a “great job”.
It is expected his leg will take six months to fully recover, while his bladder injury was has healed itself.
There are two paramedics or one doctor and paramedic working in each chopper along with the pilot.
They operate ten hours a day, every day of the year, receiving an average of four calls per day.
The air ambulance landed on Hazeldene farm in Chesham today as part of the country show put on by farm owners Liz and Steve Bateman.
