A roofer who sustained a life-threatening head injury after falling 30ft from a ladder on a job in Harrogate is set to appear on the hit TV series, Helicopter ER.
Ryan Westmoreland, who was 31 at the time, was working on a Victorian house in Harrogate when he accidentally slipped from his ladder and fell 30ft on to the concrete patio floor.
The owner of the house witnessed the fall and called for the emergency services. Ryan was in an agitated state as he was suffering from a serious head injury.
The Yorkshire Air Ambulance was dispatched from their Nostell airbase and immediately after arriving on scene, their Critical Care Team put Ryan into an induced coma to relieve pressure from the brain.
Ryan was flown to Leeds General Infirmary and was prepped for emergency brain surgery. His recovery was touch and go.
Speaking of his incident, Ryan, said:
When the helicopter arrived at Leeds General Infirmary, one of the surgeons said to my mum that he would have to operate on me within the next 15 minutes or I would pass away.
Ryan spent eight days in a coma. After not waking up after the initial four days, doctors prepared his family for the worst, and told them he might not make it.
Ryan said:
I feel very lucky to have made it through everything. I didn’t realise how bad things were when I woke up in hospital.
To the surprise of Doctors at Leeds General Infirmary, Ryan made a miraculous recovery. To give back to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, whose fast transfer to hospital helped save Ryan’s life, Ryan’s family organised a walk from the scene of his incident to Leeds General Infirmary where he was flown to. As a result, the family raised over £10,000 for the Charity.
Jenny Jones, West and South Fundraising Manager for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, said:
The £10,000 raised by Ryan’s family will help tremendously towards the vital funding of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and will help us continue saving more lives across the region.
We are so glad to see that Ryan has now made a full recovery and we would like to wish him all the best for the future.
The episode, which airs at 9pm on Channel Really on 18May 2020, also features: a high speed crash that left a family car halfway up a tree with its elderly driver trapped at the wheel, and a competitor in a local half-marathon who collapses with a massive heart attack.
Helicopter ER is made by York-based Air Television who have won five Royal Television Society awards for their work on the compelling series. You can catch up on any missed episodes for free on D Play: https://www.dplay.co.uk/show/helicopter-er
Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) serves 5million people across Yorkshire and carries out nearly 1,600 missions every year. The charity operates two, state-of-the-art Airbus H145 helicopters and needs to raise £12,000 every day to keep saving lives.
When’s it going to be on tv? Please
9pm tonight on Really