Our Impact Patient Stories “I am extremely thankful for the support I received.” - Judith's Story Judith was out walking her dog when she suffered a fall and badly injured her ankle. Our team were tasked to help, before she was eventually conveyed to hospital by our ambulance service colleagues in a land ambulance. Judith kindly shares what happened and provides a heartwarming thank you to everyone involved. Air ambulance crew tasked to remote emergency near Edington Myself and Bumble, my labrador, were walking in a fairly remote area, three fields away from the nearest country lane in the village of Edington, when he spotted a stick that was too interesting to ignore. In his excitement, he lunged for it, pulling me over in the process. The fall resulted in me breaking and dislocating my ankle. I recall being extremely happy to see the helicopter coming to my rescue. The only other thing I remember is being asked if I hit my head, which I hadn’t, and a crew member advising that she was going to put a needle in the back of my hand. From that point onwards, I remember nothing. Providing pre-hospital critical care at the scene After the incident, I was made aware that the DSAA team had sedated me at the scene, before pulling my ankle into the correct position, which I knew nothing about, thank goodness! I was taken to Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton by land ambulance. There, my ankle was x-rayed, which showed a trimaleolar fracture. This was reduced in A&E and a back slab cast was applied to immobilise it. Hospital treatment and ongoing recovery after serious ankle injury I only stayed in hospital overnight but had to return a week later for internal fixation surgery, which involved physically reconnecting the bone in my ankle using three plates and screws. Currently, my recovery is still ongoing. I am in month five and having intensive physiotherapy – which is really helpful. A thank you to Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance I am extremely thankful for the support I received. I wanted to share my story to express my gratitude and to highlight the fantastic service DSAA provides, particularly in rural locations, such as the middle of a field where I was injured and treated that day. The DSAA team who attended Judith’s incident were: Laura, Lauren, Nick, Kevin and Jack. Next: Josh's story Manage Cookie Preferences