Jack’s Story

Jack’s parents were on holiday in Italy when the phone rang with the news every parent dreads. Their son had sustained a serious head injury and was being airlifted to The Royal London Hospital (RLH). They needed to get to his bedside as quickly as possible. 

“In an instant we had to face the fact that we could lose our son,” recalls Jack’s mum.

At Basildon Hospital, where Jack had first been taken by the East of England Ambulance Service, his condition was rapidly deteriorating. Our critical care team happened to be there after dropping off another patient. When hospital staff raised the alarm, our HEMS team – Dr Jess Payne and critical care paramedics Adam Carr and James Samouelle – immediately took over. Jack had a large wound above his eye and was becoming increasingly drowsy. He was given a general anaesthetic, treated with hypertonic saline, a drug used to reduce swelling on the brain, and flown to RLH , where a Code Black, the highest level of trauma alert related to head injury, was declared.

Dr Jess Payne explains:

“For us as a HEMS team, having a helicopter is invaluable because time really does matter. If we can knock 30 seconds off the time we get to a patient, that can be a matter of life or death.”

At RLH, an immediate CT scan revealed multiple skull fractures and bleeding around Jack’s brain. Consultant Neurosurgeon Professor Chris Uff and Consultant Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon Professor Simon Holmes were called due to the extensive facial and skull fractures sustained.  Jack faced the risk of his face collapsing, as well as a dangerous hole between his brain and nose that left him highly vulnerable to infection.

He underwent hours of complex surgery where the team sealed the hole with soft tissue and rebuilt his eye socket using bone fragments and titanium mesh. Jack then spent days recovering in hospital, with his parents and sisters at his bedside.

Jess, who also visited Jack on the ward in her consultant role, says:

“Having a true understanding of the journey a patient has been on is really beneficial. One of the things you realise working on the intensive care unit is how these traumatic brain injuries ripple out to affect the whole family – and how that impact lasts long after the surgery is done.”

Jack’s mum adds:

“When we walked into the hospital, we didn’t know if he would survive. The fact he’s here today is down to the incredible teams who worked together to save him.”

Jack himself says:

“The level of care I’ve had… honestly phenomenal. I don’t remember much about that day, but I know I wouldn’t be here without everyone who came together to help me.” 

The quick thinking of the Basildon hospital staff, combined with the rapid response of our team and the wider trauma network, ensured Jack received the critical care he needed when every second counted.

A year later we were delighted to welcome Jack, his parents, sisters, niece and nephews to our North Weald airbase where they met Adam and pilot Andy Moorhouse, who flew him to RLH that day.

Upon meeting the team and hearing more about how they helped him, Jack said:

It was fantastic to be able to meet the team at their base – I was able to speak with the pilot who flew me, and the paramedic who worked on me in the helicopter.  This really helped with my understanding of the care I received and showed the level of expertise and professionalism EHAAT provide to people on a daily basis.  I’ve told everyone who will listen how great the team were and what they did for me!

Jack’s journey from our team bringing him into RLH, to the remarkable maxillofacial surgery, to the support and care he received during his rehabilitation and recovery, features in Netflix’s docu-series Critical: Between Life and Death (episode 2).