A North Yorkshire pensioner had a lucky escape after being felled by a flying log in a wood-cutting accident that features in this week’s episode of Helicopter ER – the reality TV series featuring the work of Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
Forester and landscape gardener Trevor Dawson was cutting sycamore using a high-pressure log splitter machine when he was hit in the chest by a 20kg lump of wood.
The force of the impact threw the 74-year-old backward causing severe internal and external bruising.
Fortunately, the father-of-three had his mobile phone and could call a farmer friend who found him in agony on the ground and rang the emergency services. Yorkshire Air Ambulance was dispatched to the remote location near Skipton and flew Trevor to the nearest major trauma centre in Preston.
“It happened so suddenly – one moment everything was great and then the machine spat out this log and the next thing I know I am on the floor. I really thought it was the end of me because the pain in my chest was terrible,” said Trevor from Bank Newton, near Skipton.
It’s not the first time that Trevor has reason to be grateful to the rapid response charity – his wife Elaine was also airlifted a few years ago following a bad horse-riding accident. He added: “I’ve had a few accidents before but nothing as horrendous as this, and it was such a relief to see the air ambulance land.
“There was no way a road ambulance could have got to me and they were just fantastic.”
It took Trevor over a month to recover from his injuries. His accident features in tomorrow night’s episode of Helicopter ER, the award-winning Really TV series which follows the life-saving work of Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
This week’s episode also features the story of a boy who broke his leg after falling from hay bales, a man seriously injured in a high-speed road accident, and a farming accident involving a cattle feeder.
Photo: Trevor Dawson who was felled in a log-splitting accident at a remote North Yorkshire location