Julie's Story

Julie, 48, was enjoying the last hours of her holiday before she and her husband John had to catch a train back to Newcastle when she heard and felt the sickening snap.

While enjoying a walk along the rugged cliff-tops of St Abb’s Head nature reserve, Julie spotted a puffin on the water and walked to the edge to try to get a better view.

“That’s when I managed to fall,” she recalls. “I’m guessing there was a rabbit hole because as I moved off, my foot didn’t move with the rest of my body.

“Luckily, where I had fallen, I couldn’t actually see that my leg and ankle were so badly mangled, because I think I would have panicked even more.”

Julie, who is now the Vice-Chancellor and Principal at Royal Holloway, University of London, was suddenly left immobile atop the cliffs. The couple had no mobile signal to call for help. John was forced to leave Julie alone and walk until he secured signal or found help.

It would take John around 30 minutes before he managed to get a signal strong enough to call for aid. Meanwhile, despite her pain levels increasing, Julie was trying to stay calm by focusing on her breathing and listening to the sea birds around her.

After an agonising wait, she was relieved when her husband returned alongside a team from the Eyemouth Coastguard.

“The coastguard service came and things started to click into gear,” says Julie.

“I did think immediately that I would need a helicopter because no one was going to reach that terrain by road and there was no way they would be able to stretcher me anywhere else. I was so much in need of help.

Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA) soon landed at the scene just a short distance from Julie.

The SCAA crew were able to administer morphine to help Julie manage her increasing pain.

It was clear Julie’s injury would require advanced specialist care and surgery. John was left to watch on as she was carefully transferred into the awaiting helicopter air ambulance.

“It was hard leaving John at that moment,” she reflects. “But the SCAA crew were just brilliant at every stage – really kind, calm and helpful. I couldn’t be more grateful that they were there to help.

“I remember one of the paramedics kept wiping my brow gently throughout the journey to keep me conscious. They explained everything, which really helped me process things.”

A short flight of approximately 15 minutes to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary meant that Julie received the specialist care she needed in the quickest time possible, saving a lengthy and complicated journey by road of well over an hour.

“When I first got to hospital, it was confirmed I had a triple fracture to my ankle and they adjusted it back to the right position,” Julie adds.

“I had done so much damage to it. It was broken on both sides and in the middle.

“The original prognosis was that I would always walk with quite a pronounced limp.”

Surgery followed shortly after with metal pins being inserted. Julie admits her recovery was ‘tough’ as she spent over two months in a wheelchair and then crutches.

Thankfully, having now fully recovered, Julie walks without any such limp and is back enjoying walking and cycling trips with John.

On the anniversary of her incident, she kindly donated to the charity that helped in her time of need.

Julie says: “A massive thank you to SCAA for their professionalism and care…I am fully back on my feet as a result of their hard work.

“The incident was just a moment – a slip and a trip and big stuff happens but when the right support structures are around you, you get through.”