For Paul Foote the day started like any other on 16th June 2021 at his busy waste management business in Kawerau. Paul, an experienced mechanic, was tightening some bolts under a big 700kg bailing clamp attached to his loader, when he saw the huge clamp coming down towards him. Swiftly moving backwards to get out of the implement’s way, Paul tripped and fell back landing with his legs out in front of him. The clamp came down landing on his legs crushing his knees.

Being a methodical man, Paul calmly started the process in his mind of how to get out from under the implement. Talking his employees through the process they soon realised the situation was critical. One of Paul’s employee’s (an ex-miner) quickly torniquet his thighs and the Kawerau Ambulance, located only 600 meters from the site, was soon on the scene. Next to arrive was a second ambulance from Whakatane. Stabilising Paul to transport him to hospital was increasingly becoming time critical and shortly after, the TECT Rescue Helicopter was landing in a park just minutes from the accident site.

The plan was to get Paul to Waikato Hospital’s ICU, however, with Paul in the air the experienced TECT crew along with Intensive Care Paramedic (ICP) Flick who was charged with working on Paul in the air, could see they needed to make the crucial call to divert quickly to Tauranga Hospital.

“Dad owes his life to Flick, Todd & the crew on board the TECT Rescue Helicopter that day” says Charlotte, Paul’s daughter. Not knowing what she was going to face when she got to the hospital, Charlotte drove straight from her home in Cambridge to Tauranga Hospital negotiating traffic to get as quickly to her Dad’s beside as possible. “At one point I was so stuck in traffic I considered running the rest of the way to the hospital, I desperately wanted Dad to know I was coming.”

“We will be forever grateful Dad could get to the hospital so quickly because of the rescue helicopter, and straight into theatre for treatment that ultimately saved his life. We were that close to losing him.”

Paul sustained massive crush injuries to his knees, which resulted in his right leg being amputated above the knee in a 6 hour emergency surgery. Fortunately, Paul’s left leg is healing well. Paul spent a month in hospital and a further 3 months in a wheelchair.

“Dad & I are just so grateful for not only the care and experience provided on the day, but for the follow up when we were able to meet Flick two days later whilst Dad was still in ICU.”

“Flick came to find him to make sure he was still alive and kicking, albeit with one less leg than when she’d met him two days prior. She is absolutely Dad’s hero and he will forever be indebted to her for the lifesaving treatment she provided while in the air that day.”

“Dad is some kind of miracle, he’s now using his prosthetic leg on a permanent basis, back at work as Head Mechanic and getting around the yard as best he can. He’s at a slightly limited capacity to what he had been prior to his accident, but he’s always trying to adapt and find new ways if there’s something particularly challenging. The recovery of his remaining leg is said to have an 18-24 month recovery time due to the severity of the trauma it suffered, however he is having regular physio and doing all of the exercises to ensure his recovery keeps progressing. He may be 65 but he shows no signs of slowing down or giving anything up, it’s simply not in his nature!”

“Dad is a big advocate for donation, and as such, we have some funds to gift from a Give a Little that was initiated to ensure we could give back to both the rescue helicopter and St John, who were undoubtedly his heroes and lifesavers.

Paul has also agreed to speak with the NZ Blood Service about how thankful he is to all the donors from which his blood and blood product transfusions came.

“We can never put into words just how grateful we are, as a family, for those actions that Wednesday afternoon. Not only is he an amazing Dad, but he’s the most wonderful husband, grandfather, brother, uncle, boss & friend; I’m so thankful to have met the chopper crew instead of the funeral director, it came that close.”

Donate to this year’s Chopper Appeal and help keep missions like these possible. Head to give.rescue.org.nz to make a donation today.

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