Trying to avoid the debris of a separate crash while riding his motorbike, Rob, from Southsea, collided with another bike that had been involved in the previous incident. The bike slid under Rob’s wheel, catapulting him over the handlebars. With four motorcycles now involved in the accident, the team from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance were called in to assist.
“I was rendered unconscious as soon as I hit the floor,” said Rob. Among serious injuries to his right shoulder, a punctured lung – caused by a fractured rib – and fractures to his skull and spine, Rob had also sustained a traumatic brain injury.
“I was in a right mess. In fact, I was fortunate that I was wearing a back protector, or I would have been paralysed from the neck down. I needed to be evacuated to a hospital for medical attention pronto.”
Due to the severity of his injuries, Rob was hastily put into an induced coma and flown to University Hospital Southampton, where he was taken to the Intensive Care Unit.
As Rob was flown to hospital, his partner, Jenni, received a knock on the door that all partners, parents, brothers and sisters dread.
“At the time, I was living on my own in Surrey,” said Jenni. “I got a knock on the door from the police at around midnight. I was still half asleep, wondering who was knocking at such an unearthly hour.”
She added: “They told me that Rob had been involved in a motorbike accident and that I needed to get to hospital straight away. The police insisted that I couldn’t drive myself, because I could suffer from delayed shock, and would need to be driven.
“At gone midnight, I rang my Mum and explained everything to her, and so she drove me. It was a very worrying and strange experience – nothing like this had never happened to me before.”
At the hospital, Jenni was told that Rob had a 5% chance of lasting the night. And if he did survive, he wouldn’t be able to walk or talk again.
Not only did Rob make it through the night, but with drive and determination from Jenni, he is successfully walking and talking once again.
“I was in the induced coma for 3 weeks,” said Rob. “I wasn’t an easy patient, that’s for sure. But I owe my life to the quick response of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance.”
