24 Hours in A&E

S11:E04 - Road to Freedom

This episode explores the value of freedom, and what happens when it’s taken away. 49-year-old Michelle is rushed to St Georges after a collision with a car whilst riding her bike on a dual-carriage way. Emergency Care Nurse Lee tells us of his own passion for motorbikes: ‘I ride a motorbike and every day….it makes me feel alive.’ He explains the risks of riding motorbikes and when he hears they have a patient who has had a motorcycle accident, he wants to be the nurse in charge of their care. Michelle’s friend Ani was expecting her for dinner on the day of the accident, and when Michelle was uncharacteristically late she began to worry. As Michelle is rushed for an urgent CT scan, Ani tells the story of how she met Michelle through their faith. ‘Being a Jehovah’s Witness is based on love. We are a family… so she’s my sister.’ They struck up a friendship whilst on a girls’ weekend away. Ani drove a car down, and Michelle took her bike arriving clad in leathers. As doctors continue to investigate the extent of Michelle’s injuries, we hear about Michelle’s experiences growing up in South Africa during the Apartheid era. As a child, she sensed segregation was ‘very unnatural’, but had grown up with that system being the norm. Michelle’s parents are British and she always had a fascination with the UK. When her marriage fell apart she made a leap of faith and boarded a plane to Britain feeling she ‘wasn’t just giving up marriage [but] giving up her life.’ Gradually she started to find her feet and took up riding a motorbike, ‘the feeling of freedom is absolutely awesome.’ 19-year-old Frankie arrives in resus after being thrown from a horse which then trampled on her. Orthopaedic Registrar Rob knows the risks of falling from a horse, ‘Some [patients] have very simple injuries and I have seen patients that have had complete spinal chord injuries who have never walked again.’ As doctors send Frankie for scans, her mother Sharon tells of the escapism horse-riding gives Frankie: ‘she’ll sometimes come home and be stressed out about something and she’ll get on her horse and gallop over the fields. It’s a nice…she can turn to nature when she’s feeling bothered about things.’ Frankie’s stepfather, Colin rushed to be by Frankie’s side and as doctors study her scans, we learn how Sharon separated from Frankie’s father. Colin and Sharon later met at work, and he describes the moment he met Frankie: ‘I’ve got three children who are older from my first marriage. I’ll never forget the day (she) sat her on my knee. I thought- I don’t know if this is going to work!’ But it did and we hear how their relationship blossomed. When Frankie’s biological father died last year, Colin was able to support her through it: he sees it as his job to ‘help her through life.’ Meanwhile, 11-year-old Merlin comes to St George’s with his mum Leslie after running into a wall at school and hurting his wrist. Leslie tells us of Merlin’s love for sport - he did his first triathlon aged 7. She called him Merlin after her love for medieval literature and tells us he was ‘born in Grasse, the capital of perfume.’ The day Merlin was born he had the umbilical chord wrapped round his neck. Midwives acted quickly to remove the chord and Leslie describes the moment she first held her son as ‘truly magical.’ As doctors treat Merlin’s broken wrist, Leslie reflects on how time flies and how she treasures each day with her son.