A MAN who suffered a nasty fall while taking one final photograph of a waterfall has made a good recovery one year later.
Lee Oliver, 72, from Brackley, Northamptonshire, had travelled to Hawes with his wife Jan, 73, for a long-awaited holiday in the Yorkshire Dales.
Lee had recently taken up wildlife photography as a hobby and planned to photograph the waterfalls in the Keld area, however unbeknownst to him, his hobby would lead him to require the emergency services.
He said: “We started off with East Gill Falls and then moved on to Kisdon. It’s a little off the beaten track with a bit of a rocky descent to the waterfall and my wife was recovering from quite a big operation so she was unprepared to attempt the climb down to the ground level.
“I left her part way down and continued on so I could get my pictures. Jan was unhappy about me going that far and soon I disappeared from her sight. I got my pictures but wanted a special one with a small waterfall in the background. I was rushing because I didn’t want my wife worrying for too long. That’s when I must have made the wrong move.”
Lee fell approximately 12-15ft and caught his head twice on the rock face before coming to an abrupt stop on a limestone slab next to the water’s edge.
He said: “After a few seconds in shock I came to and tried to move my leg, I felt nothing and when I moved it with my hand I knew I was in trouble.
“I shouted at the top of my voice for Jan but she failed to hear me the first time and after another five minutes she appeared. Needless to say she almost passed out herself. I had blood on my head and she thought I may have got a brain bleed.”
Jan managed to scramble back up the rocks to Rukin’s Campsite, which was nearby, and raised the alarm.
After calling for the emergency services, the campsite owner came down to the water’s edge to be by Lee’s side until help arrived.
Swaledale Mountain Rescue Team, Yorkshire Ambulance Service, the Coastguard helicopter, RAF Leeming Mountain Rescue Team and the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) responded to the scene, which happened on 23 September last year.
They worked together to treat and extricate Lee, who had snapped his femur and broken part of his hip and carried him on a stretcher to the waiting air ambulance, which had landed nearby.
Lee said: “Drifting in and out of consciousness I can remember moments when I was carried on a stretcher up the rock face, along the track, to see my wife briefly and then being loaded into the helicopter.”
Lee was airlifted to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough in 18 minutes and underwent surgery to have two rods inserted into his femur.
He said: “The care I received in that hospital was second to none, the food was excellent and the surgeon visited me twice.
“In my 72 years I have been very fortunate not to have had any reason to visit a hospital.”
Lee is now attending the gym to strengthen the muscles in his leg, and despite it feeling stiff and tight at times, he is currently able to walk several miles.
He said: “I think the gym is helping but if my leg doesn’t get any better it doesn’t matter, I am still alive and living my life pretty much the same pre-catastrophe. All of this thanks to my wife, who suffered quite badly for months after, the Swaledale Mountain Rescue Team and everyone at Rukin’s Farm in Keld.
“A very special thankyou to GNAAS, an organisation run solely on charitable donations. We never expect to be in the situation where we really need others’ help but when we do, it’s comforting to know that help is there. I am forever indebted to all these people for their tireless work, without them I would probably not be here today sharing my story.”
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