Matt with Dr Flora Bird
(Picture: London Air Ambulance)A medical student who spent six weeks in a coma after a horrific car accident has thanked the London Air Ambulance for giving him "a second chance" at life.
Imperial College student Matt, 28, was walking in West Kensington to have dinner with his friends when a car failed to follow the road bend and collided into him on November 23, 2016.
A passer-by called the ambulance service and, because of the severity of Matt's injuries, the London Air Ambulance's advanced trauma team were also dispatched.
Matt had suffered a suspected skull fracture and likely an intracranial bleed, which is time critical.
He was treated at the scene by the LAA's Dr Flora Bird.
"I was significantly concerned that he would die from a massive head injury. Everything that we did, we did as rapidly as we possibly could," she said.
Air Ambulance medics perform life-saving treatment for patients who are critically injured, and their helicopters help to transport doctors to the scene as soon as possible.
Last year it assisted 1,714 patients — an average of five each day.
Paramedics went through a series of interventions to support Matt’s airway and he was put to sleep and given an anaesthetic. He was then taken to hospital, where Dr Bird handed him over to a neurosurgical team.
Matt remained in a coma for six weeks and on Christmas Eve, his mother Rachael was told his chances of waking up were incredibly unlikely.
The next day, Rachael visited Matt to wish him Merry Christmas — believing it would be their last Christmas together.
Leaning in to give him a kiss, the smell of her familiar Chanel perfume triggered him and — for the first time since the accident — he displayed the first signs of responding.
"I would always get my mum Chanel perfume for Christmas so I recognise the smell," Matt told the Standard. "It feels appropriate that it was her that got me to wake up. It's special to me that it was the beginning of my journey."
It became the start of a dramatic recovery, with Matt finally waking up fully on January 10, 2017. He remained in hospital until the beginning of February and was eventually discharged home after spending a month in a neurorehabilitation unit.
Matt later underwent intense out-patient rehab, including physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, neuropsychology and occupational therapy.
"The experience was humbling and eye-opening," he said. "I look back and the willingness those therapists had to get me through it got me to where I am today."
In 2018, Matt had made such a significant recovery that he was able to return to medical school, qualifying as a doctor this summer.
While he is still living with some repercussions from the accident, he said he has "gained a lot" from the experience.
"I've learnt about what I can do rather than what I can't do. I now expect the world to give me nothing," he said. "There have been tough moments but I wouldn't change it."
He added: “The air ambulance team saved my life, they gave me a second chance. Dr Bird is an inspiration and without doubt one of the most compassionate doctors I have had the pleasure of meeting. She makes saving lives look effortless."
Dr Bird said: “He is the case that I describe when I want to remind people that there are patients who have significant head and brain injury who are worth fighting for.”
The Up Against Time appeal is seeking to raise money to fund two new H-135 T3H helicopters to bring into service in 2024, as the charity’s current fleet is in decline and increasingly difficult to maintain.
