On 10th October 2014 a motor bike ride with a friend whilst visiting family in Devon turned into an encounter with a lorry that Jamil will never forget.

Jamil, who lives and works as an Advertising Account Manager in London, remembers everything about the events on that day. he recalls being home for a long weekend visiting family and catching up with friends whilst he had a few days off between jobs. Jamil and his friend had just had lunch in Dawlish and were riding along the road towards Kenton near Exeter. Jamil, on his Ducati Monster 696cc, recalls seeing his friend slow down and was  wondering why he was slowing. Unfortunately, he missed seeing a lorry ahead of him on a corner in the road.

Jamil right away knew he was going to hit the lorry, so he turned his bike so that they didn’t hit head on. On impact he bounced off the fuel tank and landed on the grass verge on his back. He looked down and remembers seeing a lot of damage to his leg.

Luckily a girl who had undertaken First Aid training only a few days before was first on the scene and reassured Jamil, trying to distract him from his injuries, but Jamil’s friend was completely in shock. Initially a land crew arrived but upon seeing Jamil’s injuries they immediately called for the Air Ambulance.

Direct to Derriford

Pilot Rob Mackie, plus paramedics Nigel Lang and Paul Robinson, were with Jamil within twelve minutes of being called. Jamil remembers having his leg put into a splint and being given quite a lot of drugs for pain relief. Once Jamil was aboard the helicopter the crew flew him direct to Derriford hospital in Plymouth, the region’s Major Trauma Centre.

Jamil spent five weeks in Derriford. He had snapped the bottom of his femur and had severe damage to his knee joint, resulting in a muscle transplant operation from his back to his knee to keep the blood running through in an operation that took twelve hours. Jamil was unable to have a replacement knee joint for six months, due to infection and other difficulties following the accident.

In total, Jamil has now had eleven operations so far to repair his knee. He was very fit before the accident and is now able to walk again, go the gym and use the cross trainer, but he still finds stairs difficult and he's net yet been on a run or another bike ride.

Fortunately, Jamil’s new employer kept his job open for him for eight months whilst he recovered.

On the mend

Jamil is extremely grateful to the crew that helped him on the day, and for conveying him to Derriford so swiftly where he underwent continued physiotherapy.

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