It was a bright, sunny day in June 2021 and I had a few paddocks to mow on a farm at Chiddingstone Heath, Kent. I got the tractor out and put the mower on the back but before setting off, unusually I stopped at the house for my mobile phone so that my wife could get hold of me if she needed me. Iโm so glad I did.
I drove two or three miles to a small field on a steep hill and parked the tractor sideways on the slope so that I could get out of the cab and shut a gate behind me. A few seconds later I saw the tractor was starting to roll down the slope. As I walked towards it, trying to work out what to do, it picked up speed. There was nothing I could do to stop it knocking me over, taking the cutting equipment over me. The roller had gone over my chest, and it had broken all of my ribs, some of them in two places.
There was no pain because the adrenaline had kicked in, but I knew I had done something to my chest. I couldnโt stand up and, as time went on, I was finding it more difficult to breathe.
I was on my own I felt really vulnerable and realised and had to do something. Thank goodness Iโd taken my mobile phone with me. Lying on the ground I looked over and it was there, just in reach. It was miraculous, really.
When I called 999 I remember being cross with myself and thinking that I was too busy to spare the time to go to A&E. It must have been the adrenaline talking, as I didnโt realise how severely injured I was.
A helicopter from Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex (KSS) was dispatched, and because it was such an isolated location, they were to be the first of the emergency services to arrive. On the phone to them they could tell my situation was worsening but they kept me calm telling me that the help was coming. I had begun to feel quite unwell and knew my problems were getting worse and time was running out.ย I was truly relieved to hear a helicopter landing, it was the best sound in the world! I just knew this was my best chance to get out of this situation.
Their expertise provided the urgent lifesaving interventions at the scene that saved my life. The fact that they could get to me and then give me treatment that I could have only received in hospital was unbelievable.ย I was operated on in the field and then taken by air to Kingโs College Hospital in London where they continued treatment on the helipad. The journey was about 12 minutes from where I was by helicopter, but it would have taken over an hour by road and for my family the outcome would have been very different.
Rachel Knight, KSS Dispatcher:ย “This was an incident that will always stay in my mind. I remember listening in to the call about Chris for a long time. At the start he was able to speak quite clearly but as it went on it became increasingly hard to hear what he was saying. He was obviously in great pain and needed help urgently, but he was in a remote rural area a long way from the nearest land ambulance and a long way from hospital. I took the decision to dispatch the helicopter immediately.
Dr Rob Greenhalghย was part of the KSS team which provided critical care for Chris.
Rob recalls:ย โWhen we arrived, we found Chris lying halfway up a steep hill, with tractor and mower marks across his chest and abdomen, and the tractor steaming at the bottom of the hill in a lake.
โHe was critically unwell, struggling to breathe, and his skin was very pale. It was evident he had suffered multiple severe injuries: punctured lungs, internal bleeding in his abdomen, a liver laceration, and significant damage to his chest and abdominal organs. The force of the implement attached to the tractor had caused extensive trauma. Immediate and urgent medical intervention was necessary to save his life.
โOur immediate interventions on the scene were crucial. We performed an emergency anaesthetic to secure his airway, something that is typically done in a theatre or a major trauma centre. We decompressed his chest to allow his collapsed lungs to re-expand. We also placed an intravenous cannula to administer essential medications and blood products.
โChris was given packed red blood cells and fresh frozen plasma to treat his severe blood loss and low blood pressure. Despite the challenging terrain, the whole team on the scene stabilised Chris and we flew him to Kingโs College Hospital, London.
โThe advanced and rapid pre-hospital emergency medical care we provided on scene in that field on that steep incline, undoubtedly saved his life. Today, seeing Chrisโ remarkable recovery, we know that without the early interventions of KSS and the ongoing support of his amazingly supportive family, I think his outcome would have been different.โ
Thanks to everyone involved in my care I have made an incredible recovery.
I canโt thank KSS enough, it is thanks to them that I am still here to see my wife and kids, and to continue doing the job I love so much. Without their intervention I would not be here, thereโs no way I would have survived. It was the medical intervention that they brought to me, lying in a field in the grass with crush injuries that saved my life. If the air ambulance hadnโt got there I wouldnโt have survived, itโs as simple as that.
Situations change in seconds and to have the air ambulance to support people across Kent, Surrey and Sussex is a godsend and something we all really need to support.
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Following Chrisโs accident, his son Jacob made this powerful film about his experience. Please note that it includes descriptions of his injuries.
