Barry Mayson

Share this story with your favourite social / bookmarking site.

Type of incident – Road traffic collision

Date of incident – 02/03/04

Time – 4.00pm

Location – Rochester, Kent

Barry, 47 at the time, was travelling back from Slough on his motorbike, when he was involved in a life threatening collision. Barry had just pulled away from a set of traffic lights when he collided with a car who was attempting a u-turn on the other side of the road. The impact was so severe that Barry slid for about 120ft along the road.

The attending paramedics didn’t think that Barry would make it by road, as his injuries were so severe. Barry fractured his pelvis, broke both shin bones, broke his right thigh bone, fractured his right arm and wrist, smashed and almost sheared off his left wrist, cracked vertebrae in his spine, broke his left foot and severed a nerve in his right leg. In addition, Barry suffered brain injuries, which gradually got worse over time.

Barry was taken to Maidstone Hospital by the Kent Air Ambulance and was in surgery by 9pm. Barry was in surgery until 3am, whist surgeons operated on his pelvis and right leg. It was 10 days after the accident that Barry woke up, and 3 weeks before he was out of intensive care.

From intensive care, Barry was moved to an orthopaedic ward in Maidstone due to his back injuries. Barry was then transferred to the Royal National Orthopaedic in Stanmore. He was finally allowed home on 23 May 2004, but was in a wheelchair until February 2005. Barry received physio for 18 months, and nowadays is able to move about on his own volition, but cannot walk long distances.

In addition to the physical injuries, Barry has also suffered behavioural problems. He is now more indecisive, he gets upset at trivial matters, he becomes easily confused and cannot handle crowds and socially he feels very alone.

Barry has been told that the time saved transporting him to the most appropriate hospital for his injuries, saved his life. Barry lost 7 litres of blood, and suffered severe internal bleeding. As Barry said; ‘where we live, the air ambulance is vital. We’re a long way from hospital and we rely on them if we’re in a serious situation. It is absolutely certain that I wouldn’t be here without them. I can’t praise them enough.’