“My friend thought I was going to die in her arms – I was deteriorating fast: I could no longer move my arms, hold my head up, and I began hyperventilating and vomiting.”
Within an hour of first feeling a ‘tummy ache’, Amy’s condition rapidly worsened leaving her helplessly stranded at the UK’s most remote train station.
Amy, 52, was meeting a friend for lunch at Corrour Station when she began to feel unwell.
“I felt like I might pass out, so I went outside for fresh air,” she recalls. “I didn’t get very far before I collapsed on the floor.”
The senior staff nurse was taken back to Corrour Station House where her friend was able to call 999.
The pain soon became agonising. With no medical professionals nearby, and the nearest public road 17 miles away, Amy went into nurse mode to try to control the situation.
“I phoned my consultant for help,” she states, “she knew something serious was going on with me.
“I was aware that my condition was getting worse. I was trying to keep the people around me calm and show them how to feel for my pulse in case I collapsed. I couldn’t hold the phone to my ear anymore. I was worried I might go into cardiac arrest, because something was really wrong in my tummy.”
Amy, who lives near Spean Bridge, was left to wait unsure of how or when help might reach her at the remote location.
She reflects on the immense relief at hearing a helicopter approach.
“When Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance paramedics arrived, the relief was overwhelming…finally I could be a patient and give up control,” she says.
“I was given pain medication including morphine. They realised quickly that I needed to go to a major trauma hospital.”
Despite turbulent weather, SCAA was able to reach Amy, manage her pain, stabilise her, and airlift the mother-of-three. Due to challenging weather conditions to the West, it was decided Amy should be taken to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
Once safely transported to hospital, Amy was given a CT scan and rushed to theatre just as her husband George arrived.
“There was an expectation that my bowel had ruptured which meant I would need a stoma, intensive care, and I was told before surgery that it was a 50 per cent mortality rate,” she explains.
Fortunately, Amy’s bowel hadn’t ruptured, and the surgery on the congenital internal hernia was successful.
“If untreated, this condition can lead to rupture, sepsis and then death within around 12 hours,” Amy points out.
“If I had stayed where I was or gone by bumpy track road the possibilities could have been terrible. The hospital staff were amazed I got there in time before it ruptured.
“Getting to theatre fast, not only saved my life – it got me to the right place in the right time – but it also saved my quality of life. If my bowel had ruptured, I would have had endless complications in life which would have been life-limiting. My life would have changed dramatically.
“I’m just so appreciative to be alive and getting back to normal and to my job as a nurse.
“Once the SCAA helicopter arrived, everything fell swiftly into place. They were an essential link in helping to save my life.
“I wouldn’t be here today if I hadn’t got to the hospital in time.”
Unfortunately, Amy isn’t the only member of her family to require air ambulance support. Both her sons were involved in a serious car crash and airlifted to critical care in Glasgow. Her father was also airlifted after a dangerous fall in Glencoe while gathering sheep.
Amy says: “We’re a healthy family, and no one would predict any of those events would happen, but we’re all okay and well now and that’s because of the helicopter resource.”
Since her accident, she has raised over £4,000 for SCAA by hosting a hugely successful coffee morning.
