On the 8 December 2022 mum of two, Saskia Kirk (age 50) from Cambridgeshire, was driving to a dentist appointment in the nearby town of March when she was involved in a road collision. Seriously injured and trapped in her car, the Anglia Two (Cambridge) crew from East Anglian Air Ambulance were tasked to the scene to bring advanced critical care directly to Saskia at the roadside.
Saskia had finished work for the day and was looking forward to the festive season ahead. Leaving home at 3.30pm, the light was already fading, and she remembers that the cold weather was biting. As she drove through the village of Coldham on a road with a 40mph speed limit, a route she had driven countless times before, Saskia checked her speed: 37mph. She could tell it would be icy that evening and was mindful of the road conditions. After an S bend in the road where the speed limit became national speed, she knew that she was doing just 50 mph due to the weather when her vehicle was hit by a car coming in the onward direction as it overtook vehicles on the opposite side of the road.
“The other car fishtailed as it tried to get back onto its correct side of the road and the next thing I remembered I was off the road and in the field to my left,” Saskia says.
Several people immediately stopped to help. In the chaotic aftermath of the collision, the emergency services were contacted and somebody called Saskia’s husband, Adrian, who quickly made his way to the scene with the couple’s son, Daniel who was 22.
Saskia says, “I knew something was very wrong with my left leg and I didn’t dare look down. When Adrian arrived, he saw that my leg was at a 90-degree angle – the wrong way.”
The police and fire service were at the scene; they closed off the road and worked to free Saskia from the wreckage of her car. Both East Anglian Air Ambulance helicopters, Anglia One (Norwich) and Anglia Two (Cambridge) were tasked to the scene with the Anglia One crew attending the other driver, and the Anglia Two crew attending Saskia.
“A whole team was around me, and the scene was lit with floodlights while the fire service worked to free me from my car. My badly injured leg was swelling and going into spasm. It was excruciating, so the air ambulance crew gave me advanced pain-relief to manage this.”
The fire service worked for two hours on the vehicle before it was safe for Saskia to be removed. Our crew sedated her to facilitate a rapid pain-free extrication. They also gave her oxygen and advanced medication, including intra-venous antibiotics for an open fracture to her left leg. Before Saskia was moved to the helicopter, she was also placed into a pelvic binder and box splint for her leg injury. The crew carried her, wrapped in specialist warming blankets to protect her from the cold, on a stretcher to the helicopter. They loaded her carefully into the back ready for the flight to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, which would take just 15 minutes.
“As I laid in the helicopter, I saw a hexagon pattern on the interior above me, and it reminded me of the wallpaper I had in my lounge at home. I remember thinking to myself ‘is this all a dream? All the time, the crew were monitoring and reassuring me. They told me what was happening, every step of the way.”
In the meantime, Saskia’s family, husband Adrian, son Daniel, daughter Lucy (19) and mother-in-law Carole, were making their way to Addenbrooke’s by road. “It was an awful journey for them as they didn’t know if I’d survived the transfer to hospital,” Saskia says.
After Saskia has been assessed and scanned at hospital, she learned she had broken her left tibia and fibula. “The bones had been pretty much obliterated, and I needed surgery to insert a metal rod into my leg. I know how lucky I am not to have lost my leg.”
Saskia had also broken two bones in her back, and her sternum. Her face received grazes and burns from the impact of the airbags in her car, “but these saved me,” she adds.
She spent 13 nights in hospital and was determined to get home to her family as soon as possible. It is this determination which still fuels her ongoing recovery, about which she says there are “good and bad days.”
She is sad that she can no longer take part in Parkruns, which she used to do with Adrian before her incident but has discovered a new love of the gym and cycling on a Dutch bike, which is better for her leg.
“I have an irregular leg length now and have orthotics in my shoes. I have had to learn to walk correctly in my new body. It isn’t just the physical injuries but the mental ones also that need time to heal.”
With this emotional recovery in mind, Saskia has also received support through our Aftercare service. The Aftercare team offered help and advice and, when the time was right, they arranged a visit to our Cambridge base, which fell on Saskia’s birthday.
“Meeting people who had treated me to say a personal thank you was very special and a day we as a family will never forget. This is part of my recovery journey too.”
Saskia continues, “Life is a challenge in itself, and the accident was a hurdle but one my family and I have crossed. Life is continuing and with enjoyment. The fast action of all the emergency services, including East Anglian Air Ambulance, will always remain very special to me as I am so grateful for all they have done for me, along with all the treatment I have continued to receive. Without this I wouldn’t be in the place I am today, and things could have been so very different.
“Each day I wake up and I feel lucky to be here with my family. Things really can change in the blink of an eye, and you never know when you just may need the help of East Anglian Air Ambulance and the emergency services. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.”