A past casualty returns to say thank you
On the 14th April 2010 Tony Brock and his friend were climbing at Birchens Edge when Tony fell and sustained a head injury. Mountain Rescue were called and Edale Team responded along with Buxton Team, East Midlands Ambulance Service and the Midlands Air Ambulance. Our first responding team members found Tony slipping in and out of conciousness compromising his airway followed by a fit. All of which were symptoms of a very serious head injury. He was stabilised by a team doctor and paramedics as best they could before a very hasty stretcher evacuation to the air ambulance which flew him to the specialist neurological centre at the Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham. It would be fair to say that we did not expect him to survive his injuries and if he did then he would have significant brain damage.
Well we were wrong ! Remarkably having spent the best part of four weeks unconscious in hospital and having part of his skull removed to allow his brain to swell Tony has pulled through the experience. He is making a good recovery from his ordeal and awaiting for a titanium plate to be fitted to replace the piece of skull that was removed.
In what was a very rewarding experience for all involved Tony, his partner and his climbing partner came down to our base to meet some of the people involved in his rescue and say thank you. He has already been back to the QMC to say thanks to them and is also making arrangements to meet the ambulance and air ambulance staff involved.
It means a lot to the team to meet those who they have rescued and who have made a good recovery due to the teams work. Like all members of all MRT's up and down the country we train hard and spend a lot of time maintaining team equipment and vehicles.Sometimes this can seem like a thankless task but visits like today help remind people what its all about and recharge the "enthusiasm" supplies. It also makes the team want to carry on doing the work they do in as professional way as possible.
Author: Edale MRT
Published: 08/08/2010
Updated: 08/08/2010 08:26