Richard Jones was driving his truck onto a slip road when he was he was involved in a devastating crash that was to utterly change his life. The 34-year-old suffered a range of catastrophic injuries including a broken hip and pelvis, kidney and liver failure, and a ruptured spleen.
But thanks to a heroic passer-by who stemmed the bleeding, followed by Wales Air Ambulance medics who made him stable enough to be transferred to Morriston Hospital in Swansea after the crash near Johnstown in Carmarthenshire, he survived. He would, however, spend 10 days in a coma and need his right leg amputated above the knee due to a severed artery.
Yet out of this horrific ordeal came something incredibly positive. In a bizarre twist of fate while he was in hospital he built up a rapport with one of the nurses – and more than two years on from the accident the pair are together and have an eight-month-old son. "If I hadn't had the accident we probably would never have met. I don't take anything for granted like I used to," he said.
Read more: Wales' newest A&E cannot guarantee 'acceptable standard of care' to patients, damning report warns
Richard, from Tenby, Pembrokeshire, said he has very little memory of the crash which took place on February 7, 2020. "I was heading to pick up some materials for work from Carmarthen. I was working for a civil engineering firm in Pendine MoD," he said.
"I don't have a clue how the accident happened. What Dyfed-Powys Police have told me is that I'd taken the slip road and hit the barrier and the barrier had sent me up into a [road] sign. On my left side I shattered my left hip, I broke part of my pelvis, my femur had come out of both sides of my leg, I snapped by posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) in my knee, and I had multiple fractures down the lower part of the left leg.
"It was pretty much exactly the same on the right side but the only thing I didn't damage was my hip. But the reason I lost the right leg above the knee is because I'd severed the artery in the leg. Then on top of all of that I had kidney and liver failure, a ruptured spleen, brain damage, and just cuts everywhere."
Within seconds of the crash occurring Richard believes an ex-Army medic was on the scene who managed to stem his external bleeding by putting two tourniquets around his lower limbs. He added there were two other people who helped stop the traffic and kept him conscious before the Wales Air Ambulance turned up.
Upon their arrival Dr Bob Tipping and critical care practitioner Marc Allen spotted signs of internal bleeding. At the roadside they gave Richard six units of blood products and due to the severity of his injuries they gave general anaesthetic and put him on a ventilator to control his breathing.
He was then transferred by road ambulance to Morriston Hospital – the nearest specialist centre for limb injuries. The right leg amputation was then carried out first thing the next morning.
"I remember a lot of the hospital staff and my family and friends coming to see me. But because of my medication I was hallucinating a lot," added Richard, recalling his first memories after coming out of the coma.
But there was one nurse in particular who caught his eye during his near two-month spell in Morriston – Michaela Jayne. He explained: "She works with my sister in the paediatric assessment unit (PAU) which is the children's ward downstairs in the hospital. She was on on a day off with two other nurses – they were selling cakes for the Dementia UK charity.
"They'd come upstairs to see my sister and my family and she then came in to see me. It pretty much went on from there really. I met her in hospital but I didn't speak to her for quite a few weeks afterwards. When I got home I spoke to my sister about it and I just text her and we got chatting.
"Because I was an amputee – and being in the situation I was in at the time – I was worried about meeting someone who would accept me for the way I am. But she's been incredible."
The pair welcomed their son Dougie into the world eight months ago and Richard described the tot as a little bundle of energy. "He's brilliant. He's so happy all the time and he's just got a lot more character about him now," he added.
Since his life-changing crash Richard has had to learn a whole new way of living, including walking with a prosthetic limb. He admitted he has good days and bad days and now puts more time aside for himself instead of rushing about as much as he did before the crash.
"It's been been a hard journey. I'm still under review with the specialists two and a half years later. I'm on my second prosthetic leg and I've taken to it really well. However because my left leg was also really badly damaged I actually favour my prosthetic leg," he explained.
"I'm only now starting to walk with one stick around the house unaided. My long-term plan is to walk unaided everywhere but at the moment it's limited to the house and garden."
Richard, who is looking forward to his first Christmas with Dougie, is now backing the Wales Air Ambulance Charity's Christmas Miracle campaign. The charity relies entirely on donations to keep its helicopters flying and it needs to raise £8m every year to maintain its 24/7 service. To donate please go here.
He added: "For me my Christmas miracle is my life. My feelings towards Christmas have certainly changed since the accident. As much as you try not to you do find yourself wondering: 'What if?.' It will be an extra special occasion for me and my family this year and celebrating my son Dougie's first Christmas."
He added: "The whole team at Wales Air Ambulance have inspired and given me so much. I am giving back in my own way – I give peer support to others who have limb amputations and I recently took part in a fishing competition raising funds for the charity. Fishing has been one of my lifelong hobbies.
"I've always heard stories about all the amazing things the Wales Air Ambulance do. However I never really thought about the service before and never thought I'd end up needing their assistance. I was surprised to find out that, despite the amazing work they do, the charity is solely funded by public donations. They operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, even on Christmas Day. Whilst I'm tucking into my Christmas dinner and enjoying time with loved ones I will be thinking of those who have given up their Christmas to save lives."
READ NEXT:
- Mum who fell down stairs relives her nightmare stint in A&E which left her traumatised and in tears
Signs of 'early autumn wave' of Covid in Wales as hospitalisations and deaths rise
Half of doctors who graduate in Wales leave to practise somewhere else
Dad, 34, diagnosed with incurable brain tumour just months after birth of baby daughter
