A Bradford man who almost died after being hit by a car while on his motorbike has been reunited with the doctor who saved his live with a roadside blood transfusion.
Dave Campling, 32, was riding his motorcycle on the B6480, between Giggleswick and Settle, on August 20, 2023, when he was involved in a crash with a car. Dale says he struggles to remember what happened after the crash, but says a passerby saved his life.
He said: “There was a gentleman who was going to the Lake District for the day and he was passing by. He came to the scene and saw I was losing a lot of blood out of my neck and called for an ambulance.
“He took his jumper off and held it against my neck to stop the bleeding.”
Dale’s mum, Helen Campling, said: ““The officer from Yorkshire Police and paramedics have said that if he hadn’t done that, the outcome could have been a lot different, and he did an absolutely brilliant job.”
Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) and Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) were quickly called to the scene and soon arrived, but Dale was seriously injured and so they called in more help. They called for assistance from the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) as they had a doctor on shift.
Dale in the hospital
(Image: Great North Air Ambulance Service)
GNASS soon arrived and spent an hour on the scene along with their colleagues from YAS and YAA. Dale was given a blood transfusion at the scene, which saved his life, and was put in a medically induced coma.
He was then airlifted to Leeds General Infirmary and underwent further treatment. It was two-and-a-half weeks before he woke from his coma.
Dale said: “I’d had multiple surgeries and when I woke up in ICU there were tubes everywhere, and I was thinking, what is going on?
“For me I was only just finding out what had happened, while everyone else I knew I had been dealing with the aftermath for two and a half weeks. Visibly I only had a broken arm and neck lacerations, but I had a lot of internal injuries. I was on a breathing tube which was changed to a tracheostomy, I had a lacerated inferior vena cava, which is a large vein in the abdomen, lacerated liver, shattered spleen and a lacerated kidney, and I’m still under various departments for medical tests and operations.”
Helen said: “He’s got a lot of fatigue and can’t go back to work yet, but from where he was to where he is now is just amazing. Everybody involved in his care from start to finish has been great.”
It has now been more than a year since the crash, and Dale visited GNASS’ base along with his family, reuniting him with the doctor who saved his life, Dr Philip. He said: “Meeting Philip was great. I really appreciated the time he spent talking and answering questions about my accident, showing us the helicopter and all the equipment on board.
Dale and his parents with Dr Philip
(Image: Great North Air Ambulance Service)
“I can’t thank Dr Philip, paramedic Ian and pilot JJ enough, and thank you to everyone at GNAAS for all the amazing work they do.”
Dr Philip said: “It was fantastic to meet Dale and see how he’s doing. It’s rare that I get to see my patients again after they’ve been taken to hospital, so it was lovely to meet him under better circumstances and see the positive impact we’ve had on his life.”
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