Jamie Hughes
On 20 March 2010, 33-year-old Jamie Hughes was watching football on television at home with his youngest son. A rugby player in a local club’s the second team, Jamie wasn’t due to play that day, but he later received a call to say that the first team was a player short and could he step in. Always keen to play, Jamie agreed and, a short time later, his nephew picked him and his son and daughter up to take them to the game. But the match didn’t go at all to plan.
During the first half, Jamie went in for a tackle with another player and sustained an accidental neck injury. He fell backwards. His teammates’ thought Jamie was joking when he said he couldn’t get up, but he wasn’t – he couldn’t feel his body. When other players pinched him, he still couldn’t feel a thing, and that’s when the realisation hit that he had suffered a significant injury. Players supported Jamie’s head while others called an ambulance. A response vehicle arrived first, who helped to make Jamie comfortable as possible. In the meantime, a land ambulance and East Anglian Air Ambulance were called.
“I remember the air ambulance helicopter landing on the rugby pitch,” Jamie recalls. “The crew brought out a spinal board and what looked like a sleeping bag. This was filled with air, and it helped to keep me in position. They put a neck brace on me and then the East Anglian Air Ambulance doctor gave me medication to sedate me before I was flown to hospital. The next thing I knew, I woke up in the Norfolk and Norfolk Hospital.”
Jamie underwent tests and scans. At that point he was paralysed from the neck down. The following month, after waiting for the swelling on his spinal cord to go down, he had a twelve-hour operation.
“The surgery removed the vertebrae that had squashed onto my spinal cord. I had metal rings and a plate to hold everything in place. It was 50/50 whether the procedure would work, but after the surgery I began to feel pin pricks a little bit.”
Jamie then spent three and a half months in hospital, including time at Stanmore – a specialist orthopaedic hospital where he began rehab and received support from the Injured Players Foundation, something he remains thankful for to this day.
“I had to learn to walk again. I was so fit beforehand, so that helped me. I was in the gym doing physio every day – it was all down to me and my determination” Jamie adds.
With the support of Nicola his wife and his family, Jamie has come a long way since the day of his injury back in 2010.
“I feel lucky where I am now compared to where I was. Some others aren’t so lucky. I can walk short distances on crutches, and I use a wheelchair for long distances and for work. A difference was made that day because I got to hospital so quickly. Of course, there have been setbacks and challenges along the way, but I cross that bridge as and when I get to them.”
Earlier this year, Jamie attended our Open Day at Helimed House, our Norwich base, with his grandson.
“When he saw the helicopter, my grandson said, ‘Grandad’s been in that!’ but I can’t actually remember anything about it. At the Open Day, I learned just how small the back of the aircraft is, so the crew do a really good job.”
Despite his injury, Jamie continues to embrace life and has had opportunities including trying sit-skiing in Andorra in last year – something that may not have been possible without the care he received on the rugby pitch and in hospital afterwards.
“East Anglian Air Ambulance is important for our region, especially if you have an accident and you’re in the middle of nowhere. I know this because without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
