22 February 2024 , 15:58
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A cyclist who was on the brink of death after crashing into a cattle trailer, was saved by an air ambulance team who performed roadside chest surgery on him.
Jon Hill, a 62-year-old project manager from Macclesfield, was on his "favourite route" when the accident happened in August 2022. Luckily, passing motorists spotted him and called 999 - since then, he has become friends with the strangers who rescued him and even celebrated the one-year anniversary of the accident with them.
When Jon arrived at the hospital, doctors found he had broken his collarbones and ribs, and punctured his kidney. Looking back, Jon only has fleeting memories of seeing people at his bedside and can barely remember the crash itself. With the help of physiotherapy, Jon slowly began to recover. The near-death experience made him reassess his life, leading him to work part-time and volunteer at the North West Air Ambulance Charity to give something back.
Now, Jon finds the whole incident surreal. His relationship with his 26 year old daughter has changed since the accident - they have become a lot closer as a result. Jon said: "I was pretty poorly I had various fractures and a broken collarbone and broken ribs. My broken ribs punctured my kidney so when I was in hospital, they did a procedure called embolisation so they actually cut off the blood supply to the kidneys.
"So the kidney is still there, but I'm told it would just shrivel up and do nothing. I think that together with the lacerated liver was the reason why I had the problem that I had at the scene, which if without the intervention from doctors I probably wouldn't have made it I don't think I was very far from death."
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Jon broke his collarbones and ribs as a result of the crash (Collect/PA Real Life) (PA Real Life)On August 14 2022, Jon was riding his bike through Bollington, Cheshire down a steep hill, known to locals as Blaze Hill, and collided with a farmer manoeuvring his cattle trailer onto the road. He said: "It's my favourite route and I've rode it many, many times. I don't actually remember anything about the accident itself but I've talked to people since and have pieced together what happened there was a long police investigation, but it didn't go to court and no one was prosecuted, but I got to see photos of the scene."
"As I came down the hill, I was probably doing between 30 and 40 miles an hour and there's a slight bend and a farmer was on the far side of the bend, which I couldn't see. He decided to move his cattle trailer into his farm so he turned across my path. At the last minute obviously I braked very hard and I collided with the side of his cattle trailer on my right hand side."
Thankfully, two cars stopped to help Jon, and after they called 999, the North West Air Ambulance came straight away. He said: "Two couples who were only a few minutes behind in cars stopped and helped. As I understand it, the farmer wasn't particularly helpful but the two couples that helped me were, and I've stayed friends, certainly with one of the couples, I've seen them quite regularly.
"I took everybody out for a meal on the anniversary last year." A doctor and a paramedic found Jon just in time as he was almost having a heart attack. They found out he had tension pneumothorax, which is when air gets trapped and can make your lung collapse, which is very dangerous.
On the side of the road, the crew managed to stabilise Jon and even performed a thoracostomy, a small incision of the chest wall with maintenance of the opening for drainage to remove excess fluid or air, as well as an ultrasound to check for internal bleeding, Jon had lost a significant amount, so had to receive five units of blood.
Jon even visited the helicopter that rescued him (Collect/PA Real Life)While waiting for the air ambulance, the couples at the scene also looked through Jon's phone and rang his 26-year-old daughter to let her know what had happened. He added: "My daughter was in Wales with her mum at the time... and she obviously then rang around other family members."
"So she and her mum came from Wales to the hospital, and one of my sisters came up from Leicester. So I had family around me, but I wasn't aware of them until it was probably the following day, actually, that I got sort of fleeting memories of seeing people at my bedside."
Jon was later moved to Manchester Royal Infirmary, where doctors found he'd broken his collarbone and ribs, and needed the blood flow to his kidneys stopped. He opened up about his journey back to health: "After coming home, I struggled for probably a couple of weeks.
"I got help from my daughter who lives quite close she came round and did a bit of cooking for me. I was getting a bit bored after a month... so it just made sense to try and do a bit of work, so I did a phased return for a couple of hours a day to start with and just built it up from there. Within a month, I was back doing some of my normal work...I had lots of help from physio at the hospital, but also at my work, we have a private health scheme so they arranged for independent physio as well."
In October 2023, Jon wanted to find a way to show his gratitude to the air ambulance team that saved his life. He shared: "When I was back on my feet, I just sent a speculative email to the North West Air Ambulance Charity... and I got a lovely message back from someone and we actually met up for a coffee.
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Jon now volunteers in the air ambulance's charity shop (PA Real Life)"She arranged for me to meet up with the team that helped me at the scene so I went along to the airbase and met them and spent a couple of hours there I even got to look around the helicopter that took me." Jon knew he wanted to give back after his visit.
He explained: "I was starting to think about retirement or working a shorter week, so I thought it's the perfect opportunity to work part-time and do some charity work. It was a no-brainer and I started volunteering in the charity's Wilmslow shop and I spend my Mondays doing a full day in the shop."
He didn't stop there, saying: "Not only that, I set up a regular donation and a number of my family members have also set up similar things but it's nice to be able to give something back. I don't think most people realise that North West Air Ambulance doesn't get any government funding and it's all through charitable donations and through funds raised in the shops... which is phenomenal."
Even after recovering, Jon wasn't afraid to cycle again, admitting: "Since then, I've gone down the same route a number of times. It was a little bit disconcerting to start with and I certainly didn't go quite as fast as I would do normally." Reflecting on the ordeal, he shared: "It still seems surreal now and I talk to my daughter quite often because I might not have been here."
"My relationship with her is different, we're a lot closer as a result." In order to celebrate its 25th anniversary, NWAA wants people to share stories similar to Jon's to emphasise their important work.