Need to share this with my friends on Here so sorry its on airgun chat One of our Foster placements Taxi's never turned up today so had to take him to school in Bridgwater, Me and Janet my wife decided to come back via the A38 instead of the motorway. In front of us was a Red Rover and we had just overtaken a Artic lorry on a 3 lane section just north of wellington and the Red Rover pulled away from me and we had a space of about 300yard between us, Just over the Devon Somerset border we both said whats that in the road, It turned out to be a young Girl 15-20 years old, She had stepped out into the road and got hit by the Rover, The scene was shocking with car parts and then the steady flow of blood started to run, At this point i was on phone to emergency services and we she was face down and totally unresponsive and not breathing, I was told by the operator to turn her onto her back and straighten airway by arching her head gently back then started compressions,So handed the phone to my wife, we could not get air into her due to severity of injury so its was then 20 minutes of chest compressions until a fast response paramedic arrived , I still had to carry on the compressions whilst they tried to get an airway in. They cut her top clothes away and she had nearly a full amputation of her right arm aswell, Then slowly all the services arrived including the Devon Air ambulance and I could back away and let the professionals take over, I am sat here now at home not knowing if she has survived or passed away and not knowing what to do or say, just feel like crying really being the big softy I am..... Just Hope I have given her a chance thats all.
It's tough mate. Been in the same boat, although it was a motorcyclist and he was breathing, but he was a mess... after they shut the road and worked on him for an hour, they called it a day. Well done for stepping in. Give yourself some time and rest mate, take the positives out of it. You will probably be a little up and down cos of the shock, but remember you did all you could and that's as much as anyone could ask.
Time Hi Chris i know a little about how you are feeling , dont spend to much time on your own , get out shooting with some mates it will take a bit to get over the shock its not something you deal with day in day out..By the sound you did the very best for her, your not a doctor in a A&E with all the machines so what ever you did to keep thing moving would have helped. Cheers D
Chris - you did what you could and gave her more of a chance at life than she would have had without your help. Well done for stepping forward and having a go and keeping at it for as long as needed. Dave.
It's a good job you were there to give her a fighting chance. We need more people who are willing and able to step in and help in these situations. Best wishes to you Chris. Alec.
You should be proud of yourself and what you have done. Regardless of what happens now you gave her a chance, when there wasn't one really, if she survives it will absolutely be because of your actions, I would wish to have been able to do what you did, believe me you're a brave man.
Cant agree more with the others above, you have done all you could and at least the young girl had a chance. Well done in all respects.
You've done way more than most would be capable of Chris huge credit to you to deal with such a situation at the time, as has been said anything you did will have given her a better chance. Not at all surprised you are in shock try and find something distracting to keep you occupied, I know I'd be feeling like crying too if I'd been through that.
You should be proud of yourself mate. The fact is if she survives it is because of your actions. I am a trained first aider and now training to be a nurse ( albeit a mental health nurse ) and would still hate to be faced with the situation you were in. Nobody could have done more than you did so it is now a case of keeping your fingers crossed for her.
It's lucky that some of us are able to just react the way you did, you don't give it a second thought because you have to get on with what has to be done, it's only later as you have found that it hits home. Keep your loved ones close and don't bottle anything up, if you have to talk about it then talk, if you have to cry then cry. All the best mate, and be proud of what you have done.
It seemed a very long and lonely 15-20 min before emergency services arrived but just kept going, we had cars and buses pushing past the incident then a couple of HGV's fended off to protect us, then an of duty fire fighter came in to help with keeping her airway open and neck still. due to amount of blood we could not give her mouth to mouth but I remembered that compressions were priority. Thanks for all your kind comments, you do doubt yourself that you did do all you could but i am not medically trained or even been on a proper first aid course in 5 years somehow someone inside me just took over kind of a weird feeling. I feel alot better than I did and its thanks to you guys.
Top Job Top job Chris, you obviously didn't panic & got on with it. You did all you could. Have a cry it's ok, let it out, don't bottle it up. Best wishes Pete
Chris you done a great job and should be proud you had the courage to give it a go. Many people would have just turned their back on the situation but at least you gave the girl a fighting chance. As you know, I work in the Electricity Supply Industry and as such we are highly trained in First Aid but it is still a nasty shock when the skills need to be put into practice. It has happened to me twice now, a 6-year-old boy who was knocked down by a car (later proven to be travelling well in excess of 50mph by police) on a main road with 30mph speed limit. My experience was identical but sadly the boy passed away going to hospital some 45 minutes after the initial accident. The second was a 56-year-old man who had a massive heart attack and had stopped breathing. After giving CPR & mouth to mouth for over 15 minutes until paramedics arrived he was eventually taken to hospital, given an emergency triple heart bypass and survived to meet me 4 weeks later. That was the proudest moment of my life! Yes, I was in despair after the first incident, even a few tears writing this thinking about it again. It will take time to get over Chris, I know what you are going through right now, so please give me a call if you want someone to talk to. Best Regards, Tony
Chris ,you did what you could and gave her a fighting change at life,a better one than she would have had without your help. You have to be proud of yourself. Bless you. ronald
Hi Chris...this is Paula on Dave's log-in You were very brave to have a go and keep your wits about you in such an awful situation, Plenty wouldn't try or would just freeze at the sight, very well done. You did everything you possibly could (and Janet too), be proud of yourselves. So sorry for the girl and her family. Do we know anything about the driver of the Rover, did he actually stop? Take care Paula
Just been speaking to Chris ...... Yes he did stop. It was an eldery man about 65 with his wife and both were devistated.
Chris, you found yourself in the situation and instead of shying away you stepped up and did what needed to be done, and for that you can be proud and take comfort in knowing you did what exactly was needed.
Chris if the girl survived it was because of your actions, if she didnt you gave her the best chance she was going to have that day, well done ! shes not the only casualty of the incident however, if you find you cant get it out of your head, if you cant concentrate without your mind snapping back then, mate go to see the doc YOU may need some help to get over it, noone knows how they will react and we're all roughty toughty blokes untill something like this happens! damn good effort Chris!
http://www.devon-cornwall.police.uk/NewsAppeals/Pages/NewsItem.aspx?Release=12026 Just found this update...She did not make it...I feel numb right now.
Tragic outcome and so sorry to read that. You need to take solace in the fact you did everything you could. As awful as it is at A road speeds her chances must have been very remote but you would have increased her chances by doing what you did. What you can't do Chris is start thinking could I have done more or done different because you couldn't have. I'm sure it will take time to get your head round mate but like others said don't bottle it up you've got great support from your family and friends so use them as you need to cos we know you'd do the same for us.
