A CO Down man who suffered life-threatening injuries after he was crushed by a dumper truck has told of how "without the intervention of the Air Ambulance I most likely wouldn’t have survived".
William Graham (40) from Annalong was carrying out maintenance underneath the vehicle when the freak accident happened in April 2020.
The father-of-five has told of how "I owe my life" to the Air Ambulance NI team who arrived on the scene within 12 minutes after he became trapped under the dumper truck.
With the machine pinning him to the ground as he began to lose consciousness, it then drove over Mr Graham . At this point two of his children heard his calls for help and raised the alarm.
His wife Emma found him in a distressed state.
"I could feel myself fading and had said goodbye to Emma believing I wasn’t going to make it, my last memory after that is hearing the helicopter and help arrive," he said.
Mr Graham had suffered significant injuries, including a ruptured intestine and traumatic pancreatitis, and when the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) team arrived they placed him an induced coma.
He was transported to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast where he remained in intensive care for seven weeks, before spending a further five weeks in a surgical ward.
"One of the people who saved my life that day was my consultant," said Mr Graham.
"As I recovered, I got to see him regularly.
"I eventually asked him what he thought of my condition when I first arrived and he said at the time he believed I only had a five percent chance of surviving and that without the intervention of the air ambulance I most likely wouldn’t have survived."
Almost two years on, Mr Graham is back to work as an estate agent, but is still on the road to recovery with ongoing hospital visits.
"I owe my life to the service of the Air Ambulance NI and the staff at the RVH and will be eternally grateful," he said.
"So much of what they do is funded by public donations which undoubtedly has saved countless lives.
"It really is a most worthy of causes."
Glenn O’Rorke, operational lead for HEMS said: "Patients are at the centre of everything we do and we cherish being able to meet patients and their families when they choose to get in touch.
"It is incredible to see William recovering so well.
"William experienced such a freak accident, that no-one could have predicted.
"When an incident like this occurs, every minute matters. The extent of William’s injuries where severe and his survival depended on getting him the critical care he needed, quickly.
"Thankfully, his family acted fast and called the emergency services immediately, if they hadn’t William’s outcome could have been very different."
