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"He needed interventions that only we could provide."

Corey Russell had been on a night out with his friends and was walking back to his home when he was involved in a collision with a car.

He had suffered three fractures in his spine, a fractured sternum, a shattered and dislocated shoulder blade, a broken left arm, a severe laceration on his right arm, lacerations to his kidney, liver, and spleen, damage to his stomach and colon and a broken pelvis and hip.

His mother received the dreaded knock on the door from the police at approximately 5.25am. She said: “I looked out of the window and saw the police car and the officers heading straight to my door. When I answered I said, “Which one is it?” They said it was Corey and I asked where I needed to go and get him, but then they said he had life-threatening injuries.”

Durham Constabulary were first on scene and directly contacted our critical care team and requested our assistance. Our paramedic and doctor night team travelled to the scene in a rapid response vehicle, as we only travel via helicopter during daylight hours.

While we were en route, the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) arrived on the scene and began assessing and treating Corey’s injuries. GNAAS paramedic Ian Grey said: “The NEAS crew had done a superb job treating Corey, but he needed interventions only we could provide”.

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