- 7/7/2025
Close Calls On Camera S10E06 (18th April 2022)
Category
🦄
CreativityTranscript
00:00A close call, a moment of danger when life can hang in the balance.
00:05It was absolute panic and fear.
00:08A split second where the outcome could go either way.
00:11They'd have been lucky if they'd have stayed conscious.
00:13The difference between disaster and survival.
00:16It's literally, that's all it takes.
00:19Hey, what's up now?
00:20These are the people that have been there and lived to tell the tale.
00:24I was terrified. I thought I was going to die.
00:27It's a day they'll never forget.
00:29The day they had a close call.
00:47Today on Close Calls.
00:49Emergency crews worked to free a farmer impaled on the spike of a loading vehicle.
00:55They've been called by his wife who found him.
00:57This was a huge spike and it didn't just go an inch in or two inches in.
01:03It went right through.
01:05Specialist doctors at a nearby hospital are alerted.
01:08It's an injury that seems more appropriate to a medieval battlefield than a modern day emergency department.
01:15And a female hiker lies injured in the high peaks.
01:21It made me feel like I was going to pass out.
01:24It was just a really intense pain.
01:27Mountain Rescue requests backup from a helicopter but it's not available.
01:31They face a long and challenging rescue.
01:33Manhandling a stretcher over treacherous ground.
01:36Going down looked way too risky.
01:39Going up was just as bad.
01:40Ready?
01:42Ready?
01:42Ready?
01:51Wisbech, St. Mary, Cambridgeshire.
01:54CCTV captures a farmer's wife responding to his shouts for help.
01:59He's been impaled by a metre long spike from a loading vehicle.
02:03I really was going, this can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be real.
02:08But it is.
02:09Minutes later, rescue workers flood the farmyard.
02:12Clearly this was a massive injury and the potential for hidden catastrophic bleeding was ever present.
02:18Dairy farmers Jonathan and Wendy run a large farm in the Cambridgeshire Fens.
02:35The rural way of life runs through Jonathan's veins.
02:38I grew up on a farm.
02:40My father was an apple farmer.
02:42And I used to go and work at a neighbour's farm.
02:46I loved working with livestock and cows and just loved the general day-to-day running of that.
02:53The couple were in their teens when they first met at home in Northern Ireland.
02:57They married soon after and started a family.
03:01When the opportunity came to buy a farm of their own across the water, they didn't hesitate.
03:06Jonathan is the hardest working, kindest, most considerate person you'll ever meet.
03:14He has got thousands of friends for that reason.
03:19Wendy is very, very thoughtful.
03:22She'd do anything for anyone.
03:24She never complains.
03:26She's one in a million.
03:27While Jonathan opted to go straight into farming, Wendy went to university and qualified as an accountant.
03:34I don't really like to say it, but she's sort of the brains, if you know what I mean.
03:38I couldn't run the farm without her, and vice versa, she couldn't run it without me, so we work well.
03:44We thrive on being busy, and we enjoy life, and we love family life, and we love farming life.
03:51So we are just really, what I always say, living the dream.
03:55Living it with them, are their five daughters, all under 14, and all happy to muck in.
04:03The children help a lot on the farm.
04:05Our eldest girl is exceptionally capable, while she's only 13.
04:10And indeed, all the girls help feed the calves and to do the ponies.
04:14They absolutely love it, and we love them being out with ourselves.
04:18The girls each have their own pony to look after.
04:22They do like to go and see the girls riding at times, and it's a great hobby.
04:28They know how to look after animals then, and it gives them a sense of responsibility.
04:32We want the girls to be brought up to know what hard work is, and that's definitely farming.
04:38But farming can be hazardous.
04:40There's so many dangers every morning you go out.
04:43Like, we're working with large animals, machinery, you know, slurry pits.
04:48Accidents happen.
04:50You know, one of the things that we have instilled in our children is you have to stop, you have to look, you have to listen, you have to be aware.
04:58But one afternoon, those dangers become only too real, threatening the family's idyllic way of life.
05:09It's a Monday afternoon in late October.
05:11The majority of Jonathan's team are off-site gathering in the maize harvest on a neighbouring farm.
05:18Wendy is busy in the office with the accounts, and Jonathan is moving straw bales in the yard.
05:25It was just a normal day for us.
05:28So I was set about to load this lorry that was in the yard.
05:32To be honest, we were all winding down.
05:34It was October, end of October time.
05:37It was starting to get a bit dark.
05:38Two of the girls were out riding.
05:39Jonathan is using a telehandler, a piece of farm equipment that's a cross between a tractor and a forknift truck.
05:47It has one-metre-long spikes on the front, making it easy to manoeuvre straw bales from A to B.
05:53There was lorry straps on this, obviously holding the bales on, and the straps had to be taken off before he could move any bales.
06:02I literally walked around the front of it and was pulling the first strap.
06:05But he's forgotten something very important.
06:10CCTV in the farmyard captures the loader inching slowly towards him.
06:15I just pulled the first strap down, and I felt this pierce in my back.
06:21And I twisted round to see what it was.
06:24And it was that stage I could see the loader rolling slowly forward.
06:28Jonathan's neglected to put the handbrake on.
06:32It's too late to get out of the way.
06:35There wasn't a sound.
06:36You know, the first thing I knew about that loader rolling forward was when the spike went into my back.
06:42A split second later, he's impaled.
06:46It was in my back and out the front before I even knew it.
06:51Jonathan shouts for help.
06:53Thankfully, Wendy was in the office, and she heard me shouting.
06:57He never shouts.
06:58If Jonathan shouts, then there is something wrong.
07:00And so I just got up and ran.
07:03The CCTV shows Wendy rushing across the farmyard as colleagues appear either side of the loader.
07:10I had my hand over the end of the spike, and she couldn't even see it.
07:13And she just says, what has happened?
07:15It was only then when Jonathan moved his hand and said, Wendy, that I actually realised the spike had went right through his body.
07:23She was very, very shocked.
07:25I really was going, this can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be real.
07:30But when you're in that situation, your immediate thought is, you know, 999, we need to get help.
07:38She keeps her calm and makes the call.
07:41What worried me most was that I was going to lose my husband and our girls would lose their daddy.
07:47I don't think I've ever been so scared in my whole entire life.
07:51Later, emergency services rushed to the scene to free Jonathan.
07:56Hearing the sirens was one of the best things I think I've heard for a long time.
08:01I was just so thankful to them.
08:03And at a nearby hospital, stunned doctors prepared to receive an injury so serious, a team of 30 is assembled.
08:10We all felt that his life very much was in danger.
08:14There was a real possibility that he might not live through the operation.
08:27Kinder Scout, the Peak District.
08:31Mountain rescue volunteers battle to lift an injured woman along a deep ravine.
08:35She's fallen and broken her ankle after conquering the area's highest point.
08:40I felt and heard it snap.
08:43Never heard a noise like it before.
08:45Ready, steady, hold.
08:48But now the only way down is up to the safety of a stable path.
08:53The stretcher goes vertical almost as we take it up through the steep ground.
08:57Administrator Donna works from home for a mobile phone company and lives in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
09:14She moved to the town as a teenager and, a couple of years later, at just 17, met her husband Joe.
09:21I met Joe at a local pub and we've been together 21 years, married for 11 years.
09:28Rest's history, I suppose.
09:29Two kids and, yeah, 20 years later.
09:33Joe's a site manager for a number of primary schools in the area.
09:37The job keeps him busy, so Donna takes on most of the day-to-day family responsibilities.
09:44Donna's amazing, yeah.
09:45She does everything for us, not if no one's ever too much.
09:49She's always there whenever me old kids need anything.
09:53But the busy mum likes a bit of time for herself too, particularly outdoors.
09:58As a result, the couple have recently taken up hiking.
10:02We've done a lot of walking over years, Lake District and places like that,
10:06but in Peak District for about 12 months or so.
10:09Sunday morning, we'd get up, decide where we were going,
10:12and we'd be up and off and that would be us for a day.
10:16Donna's dad, Steve, lives an hour's drive away in Preston.
10:21Yeah, we're very close, very close indeed.
10:23Speak to him a lot on phone and message.
10:25So we try to have weekends away and holidays away,
10:28but we don't see each other particularly often.
10:32To put that right, the family recently planned
10:35a belated Father's Day outing for Kean Walker, Steve.
10:38Peak District has always been a favourite of mine.
10:41So I said, I'll come up and camp overnight.
10:45They decide to tackle Kinder Scout.
10:48The biggest one we were going to do this summer.
10:51But when they take on the climb a few weeks later,
10:54it turns out to be more challenging than anticipated.
10:58It's a pleasant Sunday morning towards the end of June
11:08when Donna and Jo drive south to link up with her dad for the walk.
11:12It's going to be dry, sunny, not too hot.
11:16With the Mapa area.
11:18We have a bag with food, plenty of water,
11:23paracetamol, plasters.
11:25We're all fine, fresh, good on Sunday morning
11:27and out in the countryside, yeah, beautiful.
11:32The route is about eight miles
11:34and they estimate it will take them around five hours.
11:37We just took it at our own pace.
11:40We've been quite steep up, quite steep down.
11:43Overall, it wasn't a beginner's walk,
11:45but I didn't find it highly difficult.
11:48I think there's a part of it called Jacob's Ladder
11:50that is quite steep.
11:53And we looked at it and thought,
11:56this is never going to end.
11:59As they go, they capture the day on camera.
12:03Including the moment they reach the top.
12:06Had a bite to eat there and a drink
12:08and then said, right, time to go down.
12:10They choose a route and set off.
12:12It was particularly slippy
12:14and very uneven surface.
12:18There were bits where I struggled,
12:19I'd hold on to Joe.
12:21But then the path narrows
12:23and Donna can't use Joe for support.
12:26So I was trying to avoid the big stones.
12:30It's steep on both sides.
12:32It's just loose stones and rocks underfoot.
12:36On the uneven ground,
12:38Donna's ankle suddenly gives way.
12:40I went to catch her
12:42and she went down onto a seated position.
12:46I felt and heard it snap.
12:48Never heard a noise like it before.
12:50I just thought that it might be a little sprain.
12:53But Donna knows it's more than that.
12:56Made me feel like I was going to pass out.
12:58It was just a really intense pain.
13:00Concerned, Joe carefully removes her shoe and sock.
13:05It was swollen straight away.
13:07She did try to stand on it
13:09and just went straight over again.
13:11She had completely different pallor on her face altogether.
13:17Donna tries to walk,
13:18leaning on Joe and Steve,
13:20but the pain is too much.
13:22I knew I'd done something serious,
13:24but I didn't want to put anybody else out.
13:26Steve and Joe know they need help.
13:28We took the only course of action that we could.
13:31Steve dials 999 and asks for mountain rescue.
13:36And they said,
13:36we'll contact the local team
13:38and they'll phone you back.
13:4125 volunteers from Kinder Mountain Rescue
13:44respond and head to base.
13:46Deputy team leader Alan is one of them.
13:48We have a location system
13:51that allows us to ping the phone
13:53and it puts the location of that phone on the map.
13:55They send a link to Donna's phone.
13:58And that told them straight away
13:59and then they sent you a text message
14:01letting you know how long they'd be.
14:02Donna's position is pinpointed
14:04to a ravine called Williams Clough,
14:07about 90 minutes away.
14:09It's a very difficult area to get in and out of.
14:11It's very steep-sided.
14:12So we generally call in a Coast Guard helicopter.
14:16The chopper is requested
14:17and a fast party of four
14:19sets off with medical equipment to find Donna.
14:22As they head up,
14:23Joe walks down to meet them.
14:25Dad Steve waits with her.
14:27No matter how old your daughter is,
14:29she's in pain
14:29and I can't do anything about it.
14:31The feeling of helplessness.
14:33Just an hour after Steve's call,
14:36the fast team arrive.
14:37It's like, thank God for that.
14:39One of them was an anaesthetist consultant at a hospital.
14:43So he said he was able to give me pain relief
14:45stronger than parasites more.
14:47The medic straighten out Donna's ankle
14:49before putting it in a vacuum splint
14:52while the rest of the team make their way up.
14:55We do have another route we can go in,
14:58which is flatter but longer
14:59and comes in from the top.
15:00So I joined up with the rest of the team
15:02to organise getting all the equipment up there.
15:05It's another hour before Alan's group reached the scene,
15:08bringing news the rescue helicopter is unavailable.
15:12Donna will have to be carried off Kinder Scout.
15:15Going down looked way too risky.
15:18It's a really steep, narrow path.
15:21Going up was just as bad.
15:23She was now seriously cold.
15:25With that kind of injury,
15:27it is a lot easier to suffer hypothermia.
15:29So we wanted to get her out of there as quickly as possible.
15:33Alan's camera captures the remoteness of their location.
15:36The safest route is up the side of a steep ravine
15:39to a flat area,
15:41which then descends via a well-made path.
15:44I felt a sense of relief that I was going to be moving,
15:48but I knew there were volunteers
15:49and I felt awful that I'd had to call these people out.
15:53Ready, steady, lift.
15:55It takes nine people to manoeuvre Donna by stretcher
15:58along the ravine.
16:00It was a really tricky job, this one.
16:02We've attached some safety lines to the front of the stretcher
16:05and then it was purely hand over hand
16:10to try and work the stretcher up the really steep ground.
16:13Steady, steady, hold!
16:15At the top of the ravine,
16:17more team members guide the stretcher ropes.
16:20It felt like forever.
16:23It must be a really unnerving experience
16:24because the stretcher goes vertical almost
16:27as we take it up through the steep ground.
16:30One last big heave
16:31and Donna is off the steepest part of the slope.
16:35So we had a hard slog up the hill
16:37to get right to the top of Kinder.
16:40A few lumps here.
16:41Twenty minutes later, they reach flatter ground
16:44but it's still another two hours to the bottom of Kinder Scout.
16:49The people that were with me just talked to me throughout.
16:52They didn't make me feel uncomfortable.
16:54They made sure I'd got enough pain relief
16:56that I were warm enough.
16:58It's dark by the time they reach the car park
17:01and the waiting ambulance.
17:03The rescue operation has taken six long hours.
17:07CT scans later reveal Donna has broken her ankle in three places.
17:12Surgeons manipulate the bones back into place
17:15and warn it could take up to 12 months to fully recover.
17:19It will be quite a lot building it back up
17:21before I can even think about walking on uneven surfaces
17:25and things like that.
17:26But despite that, Donna wants to finish the Father's Day walk
17:30she promised her dad.
17:32I set out that day to finish it with my dad and Joe
17:35so I want to do that walk and finish it.
17:39The family know it was a close call.
17:42Had Donna fallen the other way,
17:44it was a drop to a rocky stream bed
17:49so it could have been a lot worse.
17:51Donna hopes to raise money for Kinder Mountain Rescue Team.
17:54I didn't realise how many of them
17:57actually had to come out to one injury.
18:00We enjoy helping people, it's rewarding for us.
18:02So when we hear that although Donna's injury was really bad
18:05she's on the road to recovery,
18:08it's great for all of us.
18:09Big thanks to all our mountain rescue volunteers
18:21all around the country.
18:23Now back to an extraordinarily challenging incident
18:26resulting in an injury that requires the help of teams
18:29of emergency workers and highly skilled surgeons.
18:32On the Cambridgeshire fens,
18:41farmer Jonathan has been impaled
18:43on the metre-long spike of a telehandler
18:45after he forgot to put the handbrake on.
18:49The first thing I knew about that loader rolling forward
18:51was when the spike went into my back.
18:54Farmyard CCTV shows his wife Wendy rushing over
18:58in response to his cries for help.
19:00I really was going, this can't be happening,
19:02this can't be happening, this can't be real.
19:05Fighting back her panic, Wendy calls 999.
19:09This was a huge spike and it didn't just go an inch in
19:12or two inches in, it went right through.
19:16Jonathan is in shock but he knows he must stay put.
19:20What would have happened if I moved myself off that spike
19:23and I started to bleed?
19:24That would have been all over.
19:26The only option was to stand still
19:29and wait on the experts coming.
19:31The family have a strong faith.
19:33They need it now more than ever.
19:36One of the first things they did was say a prayer.
19:39Terrified she might lose her husband,
19:42Wendy contacts his brother in Northern Ireland.
19:45I did say to Jonathan that I'd rang Andrew
19:48and that everybody was praying for him
19:50and I think that gave him comfort as a family with faith.
19:56Wendy also keeps a line open to the emergency services.
20:00The farm's CCTV camera shows her moving behind the loader
20:03with two farm workers on the other side.
20:08Jonathan is out of sight at the front of the vehicle, here.
20:11Every minute did feel like an hour
20:14and it felt like a very long time
20:16because we really wanted help as quickly as possible.
20:20It's 20 long minutes before two ambulances
20:23and two fire engines can reach the remote farm.
20:27Hearing the sirens was one of the best things
20:29I think I've heard for a long time.
20:31I was just so thankful to them.
20:34A helicopter from the East Anglia Air Ambulance Service
20:37is also scrambled and arrives minutes later.
20:40I remember looking up and saying,
20:44thank you, God, for setting your angels
20:47because that's really what they were to us.
20:51Critical care paramedic Andy Bates
20:54is one of the team on board.
20:56You know, generally speaking,
20:57if you're going to go to an incident on a farm,
21:00the possibility or the probability of serious injury
21:02is a lot higher than it would be
21:04for other incidents for sure.
21:07With Andy are two trauma doctors.
21:09Other rescue workers flood the scene
21:11as the three medics begin their assessment.
21:14I came round to his side,
21:16got to sort of the side and front of him
21:18that I actually could see the spike sticking out
21:20and it was only at that point
21:22that the magnitude of the job really became apparent.
21:26Clearly this was a massive injury
21:27and the potential for hidden catastrophic bleeding
21:31was clearly ever-present.
21:33And Jonathan is beginning to tire.
21:37He's been pinned by the spike for an hour
21:39and his legs are going numb.
21:42To prevent further injury,
21:44they need to support his weight.
21:46Ambulance and fire crews work together
21:48to put a stretcher underneath him.
21:50So that I could sort of sit on it.
21:54The firemen lifted me.
21:56They were so good
21:57and they did a great job.
22:00He was remarkably cool, calm and collected.
22:04And he needs to stay that way.
22:07Next, they must cut through the thick steel spike
22:10to free him.
22:11But the fire crews are worried about the heat
22:13that will generate.
22:14You know, if the spike warmed up,
22:17if a spark obviously were beside a load of straw,
22:19if the sparks from the angle grinder
22:21hit the load of straw,
22:22was it going to go on fire,
22:23which was beside the diesel tank?
22:25You know, there were so many situations
22:28to assess before they did anything.
22:32To keep the spike cold,
22:34they wrap it in wet towels.
22:36Then the fire crew use an industrial angle grinder
22:39kept on the farm.
22:41It does the job in 10 minutes.
22:44All the while, he's impaled on that spike.
22:47We're not going anywhere.
22:48Once the spike is cut,
22:49then we get a degree of control back.
22:51The CCTV shows the moment
22:53after Jonathan is freed,
22:55placed carefully on his side
22:57and transferred to a waiting ambulance,
23:00the spike still protruding front and back.
23:03One of the paramedics,
23:05a young girl, had to hold the spike.
23:08So it didn't move.
23:10That girl was a pure wonder woman.
23:12As long as we kept the spike still,
23:16we felt that with the blood products
23:18we had available,
23:20we could get him to hospital
23:23at Addenbrookes safely.
23:25Addenbrookes is an internationally renowned hospital
23:28specialising in rare and complex conditions.
23:31The journey takes almost an hour.
23:34Wendy follows soon after,
23:36driven by a friend.
23:37My first question was,
23:40is Jonathan here?
23:41And she said yes.
23:43And I said,
23:43is he still living?
23:45He is.
23:46And he's in the hands of a team of specialist surgeons
23:49led by Emmanuel Huguet.
23:52Extraordinary.
23:53It's an injury that seems more appropriate
23:55to a medieval battlefield
23:57than a modern-day emergency department.
24:01That part of the abdomen is full
24:05of very tightly packed, overlapping organs,
24:09very major blood vessels.
24:10It seemed near impossible
24:11that someone would have survived an injury like that.
24:14There was only so much the surgeons could explain to me
24:17because, to be truthful,
24:18they didn't really know
24:19what they were facing themselves.
24:20It was preparing for the worst-case scenario
24:23and very quickly recruiting
24:25all of the other people
24:27who needed to be there.
24:28I can't emphasise enough
24:30how much this is a team effort.
24:33Jonathan and Wendy are told
24:34the operation to remove the spike
24:36will be long and complex
24:38and there are no guarantees.
24:40We all felt that his life
24:42very much was in danger
24:44and that there was a real possibility
24:47that he might not live through the operation.
24:51Both understood that this was possibly
24:53the last goodbye
24:55and that this possibly was the last time
24:58we could possibly be seeing each other.
25:01A team of more than 30 specialists
25:04and theatre staff is assembled.
25:06Miraculously, the spike missed
25:07all the major organs and blood vessels.
25:10When we realised that
25:12all of the major structures and blood vessels
25:15that we feared for were actually intact,
25:17there was a moment of bemused silence
25:19and slightly wide eyes
25:22and shaking heads
25:24and huge relief.
25:26Despite this,
25:27the surgery still takes seven hours.
25:30Then Wendy is given the news
25:32she's been praying for.
25:34Yes!
25:35He's still alive!
25:37This is the first great step, actually.
25:39And I just said,
25:40thank you so much.
25:41It was very emotional.
25:43Jonathan's family
25:44made an emergency dash
25:46from Northern Ireland
25:47to offer support
25:48and look after the girls
25:50who were kept in the dark
25:51about how serious
25:52their dad's injuries were.
25:55I never wanted to actually tell them,
25:57well, he's absolutely lucky to be alive.
26:01It was only whenever he came home
26:03that they actually got to see him in person
26:05and that was the best day.
26:08To this day,
26:09the surgeons are baffled
26:10how Jonathan survived.
26:12The injury is so severe
26:14that it could very well
26:16have been fatal at the scene.
26:18And in fact,
26:19when the injury was first described to me,
26:21I thought I'd misheard.
26:23I couldn't quite believe
26:24that someone would have survived it.
26:26They just physically cannot understand
26:28how it missed all those vital organs.
26:31It was just a pure miracle.
26:33Jonathan spent just two weeks in hospital
26:35before being discharged.
26:37I've never been as glad
26:38to come back over the cattle grid
26:40in my life
26:42as I was the day
26:43we'd come back with Wendy.
26:45You know, the road home,
26:47she was smiling
26:48and I was smiling
26:49and then coming back in
26:50and seeing the girls,
26:52you know,
26:52it's what I'd prayed for
26:54and hoped for.
26:55He was welcomed by his in-laws
26:57and five very delighted princesses.
27:00So, yeah,
27:02it was absolutely,
27:03it was brilliant.
27:04It took another five months
27:06for Jonathan to fully recover.
27:08The family had to rely on friends
27:10to help keep the farm running.
27:12You know,
27:13your neighbours and your friends
27:15are everything
27:16in a time of need like that.
27:18The family were so grateful
27:19to the emergency services,
27:20they organised fundraising events,
27:23including a charity ball,
27:24which raised £45,000
27:26towards the air ambulance.
27:28Jonathan and Wendy
27:29also visited the crew
27:31who came to their aid
27:32on that fateful day.
27:33It was a great day
27:35because they were so happy
27:36to see us
27:37and I was so happy
27:38to see them.
27:40Jonathan is now back working
27:41full-time on the farm,
27:43but the whole family
27:45are aware
27:45that one small mistake
27:47nearly ended it all.
27:49You know,
27:50we're exceptionally blessed
27:52because life
27:54without Jonathan
27:55for me and the girls
27:56wouldn't be life at all.
27:58So we are eternally
28:00thankful and grateful
28:01to everybody
28:03that was involved
28:05in saving us life.
28:13What an outcome!
28:15And what a cool,
28:16calm and collected couple.
28:18See you next time
28:18for more Close Calls.
28:48Close Calls.
28:49Close Calls.
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41:24