PHOENIX

Hallo everybody, this is Duncan (James’ dad speaking),

Over the past 6 days, we have had fantastic support from rescuers, relations, friends, colleagues and people that we don’t know at all, but who have kindly taken us into their thoughts. We have been deluged by so many texts and calls that it has been difficult to reply to them all. We’ve decided to update you by email/blog because we otherwise can’t cope: Newcastle, which has a fantastic hospital called the Newcastle General, has not got a large enough pigeon population to send out daily messages to the 100+ people who’ve been in touch. If you know of anybody who may be interested, please pass this on to them.

The Before

The Accident happened last Saturday afternoon 16/10/10. James had come up to stay with us in Cumbria for a couple of nights and took himself off paragliding to Carrock Fell, which is the Mecca of paragliders nearest to us and given the prevailing weather conditions. The weather was good, he was having a really good day, witness two texts, one which featured as a message on twitter:

16 Oct 2010 11:54

Followed the wind round to carrock fell and bizarrely there are a few other pilots here. Cumbrian autumnal colours are stunning

16 Oct 2010 13:09

Amazing flight from top of Carrock Fell. 30 mins of pretty good Lakeland views....It’s a bit fresher than Turkey though!


The After

By 1800, he hadn’t got home. Penny and I had been invited out by some friends to a ceilidh and so had catered for James. Penny rang his mobile to issue a string of instructions about (very expensive) fillet steak, (Sainsbury’s not very expensive) Montepulciano, Güs and reblochon. The phone was answered by Matthew Cadamy, who announced himself as the A&E consultant to Newcastle General. Matthew said that James was in hospital, serious head injury, we should come over, was he allergic to anything (A: dogs), was he up to date with his jabs (A: don’t know).
We left immediately and got over to Newcastle in 2 hours. On the way, we rang Alasdair (James’ brother) who was on his way to a 1950’s party in Russell Square and Bean (Victoria Beaney) who is James’ Significant Other. By 0200 hours on Sunday, Bean (having driven), Alasdair (who had trained up and, as an aside, I recommend giving Newcastle Central Station a pretty wide berth at midnight on a Saturday), Penny and I were assembled and visiting the Boy in relays.

He wasn’t a pretty sight.

The damage inventory is:

Damaged C1 and C2 vertebrae (transl: top two in spine), an unresponsive right pupil, a gash about 3 inches long on his jaw, a broken clavicle, about 10 broken ribs (some with more than one break) on the left of his rib cage and a collapsed lung. He was on food drips, saline drips, 4 lots of drug drips and a life support (breathing thing) machine.

Since this is intended to be a quick update, I’ll close on the accident and the present position.

The Accident

He crashed, hard, into some rocks and ended up badly injured and scrunched up.
I’ve spoken on the phone to the ‘Good Samaritans’ who got to the scene of the crash first. One, Jim Stilling, is a paramedic, the other, Jonathan May, is a trained first aider. He was airlifted out by helicopter officer i/c Colin Clark (North Air Ambulance) and enjoyed (!) a 19-20 minute ride to NGH. I’m not going to write much about what they said. The keyboard isn’t waterproof. Suffice it to say, these marvellous guys saved his life – the expression used was that he received Rolls Royce treatment on the ground. So more on that, anon.

The Present

James has been in and out of surgery to repair his damaged body.

The first was an operation to connect base of skull to C3 and C4. This immobilises his head and so protects his spinal cord – this took some 3-4 hours on Monday afternoon. Tuesday saw a tracheotomy. On Thursday, he had an operation on his ribs, using what looks like Meccano on the X ray, to hold the bits of broken bone together. As an Ironman, he has now been upgraded to feature titanium, which we understand is a lighter and stronger material. This lifts the 15 or so pieces of rib off his left lung, helps him to breathe, means that the bones will knit together suitably aligned, preserves the capacity of his lung and reduces pain in the short and long terms.
There’s no question that he’s on the mend. The reactions are back to external stimuli, he also responds extremely well to Bean (and follows her instructions – other than when she tells him to let go of her hands), Penny and the rest of us get responses on hand grasping and eye-opening. This is particularly encouraging for Bean – it’s clear that he recognises her particularly and is obedient for at least some of the time (wise man). Penny and I gave up trying to get any obedience years ago. His medics are pleased with his progress – it’s gradual but they have told us not to expect him to sit up suddenly and invite us off down the pub for a few beers. We can wait – he’s coming back.

I’ll close on a few acknowledgments – many thanks to all who’ve prayed for him (including the congregation of York Minster, Gary and Flora & Co and the Sisters of the Order of the Holy Paraclete and the Speldhurst community), to John & Rosamund, Veronica Beaney and Poole siblings who’ve visited and looked after us, to, Dave, Brett, Martha, Aaron, Rosie (and baby Lucy – what a tonic she is!), Kim & Tom, Hinksy & Kirsty, Cols and Charlotte who’ve come to Newcastle, also to all who have thought of/texted/rung us and sent their support. We’ve also had welcome hospitality from friends in Newcastle, Claudia and Iona (and James).
I would also like to acknowledge the support, sympathy and understanding that the employers of the Core Team (Penny, Alasdair, Bean and me) and, of course, James have given us. So, many thanks to Willis, Total, ABMA, Godwin Symons’ clients and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

With love from us all,

Penny, Bean, Alasdair and me.
Team Poole still standing!