A GRANDFATHER was airlifted for the second time by the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) after he was involved in a serious motorbike crash in Darlington.
Ronnie Murray, a 54-year-old coach driver from Darlington, was travelling through Croft-on-Tees to head to work when he came off his motorbike on 5 August 2018.
He said: “It is all a blur, I can’t remember anything. I believe I took a tumble but there were no other cars involved. A driver stopped and phoned the police and GNAAS were called in.”
Mr Murray had previously required the services of GNAAS after he was involved in a collision with a motorbike in Pooley Bridge in July 2017.
On that occasion he was flown to Royal Preston Hospital, where an x-ray revealed his injuries weren’t as serious as first thought, and he only had a very badly bruised leg.
However, Mr Murray wasn’t as lucky the second time round and last year he sustained a broken neck, fractured skull and broken tibia after he crashed on Croft Road.
He was placed in an induced coma by the GNAAS paramedic and doctor team and flown to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough where he spent two and a half weeks recovering.
He said: “I was woken up in hospital by these little lights saying Ronnie, wake up, wake up, you’ve been here two and a half days, and you don’t know, you’ve been in an induced coma, you’ve had a motorcycle accident.”
Ronnie has made a good recovery and visited the GNAAS base at Durham Tees Valley Airport with his family, including his mother, grandfather, daughter and granddaughter.
He said: “These guys that I’ve just been here with now are magic. Absolutely stars. These guys are lifesaving guys and I would give my right arm for them.”
Despite being airlifted from two motorcycle incidents this hasn’t put Ronnie off from riding them.
He said: “Motorbikes don’t frighten me, just unfortunately I fell off this one. I’m really absolutely blessed and glad that I’m alive here telling this story today. These guys are fantastic. They deserve every penny in every charity box all the time.”
Last year GNAAS was called out 1062 times and needed to raise £5.1m. To find out how you can help, please visit www.gnaas.com or call 01325-487263.
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