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Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex

Words by Smiley Team

WHEN cyclist Nigel Barclay was thrown from his bike after a car crash, his injuries were so severe that doctors did not expect him to make it.

Nigel, a dad-of-two and keen mountain biker, suffered multiple skull fractures, bleeding on the brain, a fractured pelvis, two broken legs and chest injuries.

But Nigel’s life was saved by the team from the Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex (AAKSS), who performed emergency surgery on him as he lay at the side of the road, first giving him an anaesthetic and then a thoracostomy, where a tube is inserted into the chest to release trapped air and blood.

Nigel, from Surrey, was then airlifted to the trauma unit at St George’s Hospital in London, where he made a full recovery.

He said: “If it wasn’t for the treatment I received at the scene of my accident, and the fast transportation to a London hospital, I would not be here today.

“When I went back to St George’s, they said I had defied all odds because they never thought I would make it.”

Without AAKSS it’s unlikely Nigel would have survived - and he is just one of more than 2,000 people in the area who they help each year.

The helicopter is on stand by with a crew 24 hours a day, and can reach anyone in their community within 20 minutes.

But the AAKSS is a charity, and relies almost exclusively on fundraising events and donations in order to continue. The service costs around £11m a year to provide, and just eight per cent of that is met by Government funding.

Leigh Curtis, executive director of service delivery at AAKSS, said: "For our patients, every second really is precious.

“In many cases survival can depend on how quickly they receive a time-critical treatment such as being placed into an induced coma after a brain injury, having chest surgery to breathe again or being given an emergency blood transfusion if they are bleeding.

"These interventions are complex and as a result normally only available in a hospital. However, despite the additional challenges of performing these procedures at the site of an incident, often at night, and then managing them in a helicopter flying at 150mph, our doctors and paramedics safely bring the skills of the hospital to the patient's side, delivering these life-saving treatments sooner to hundreds of patients a year.”

The charity need fundraising, volunteers and financial donations to be able to keep saving lives. For more information see aakss.org.uk.

By Jenna Sloan

This article aligns with the following UN SDGs

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