Joe H’s Story

We’ve been doing the charity lottery for years, but now we want to do something more to give back. I can’t believe The Air Ambulance Service is a charity! It’s just incredible what they do,

Joe H

It was an ordinary spring day in March 2025 when Joe Hough, from Pattishall, Northamptonshire, was helping his daughter with her campervan project, a job he’d worked on many times before. But in a split second, that day became one he and his family would never forget.

Joe was using an electric circular handsaw when disaster struck and he sliced through the ulna bone in his hand. “I looked down and saw so much blood,” he recalls. “I knew it was serious.”

Home alone, Joe ran to his neighbour’s house for help. His quick-thinking neighbour and her son created a makeshift tourniquet to help control the bleeding. The commotion soon brought more neighbours to the scene, and they immediately called 999.

A land ambulance was first to arrive. The responder quickly applied a medical-grade tourniquet to stabilise Joe’s condition. Moments later, the familiar sound of helicopter blades filled the air as The Air Ambulance Service (TAAS) arrived overhead, landing in a nearby field. The crew made their way on foot to Joe’s location.

“The doctor took charge straight away,” Joe said. “They gave me strong pain relief, morphine and ketamine, and tightened the tourniquet to stop the bleeding. I remember being loaded into the ambulance and driven to where the helicopter had landed.”

The last thing Joe remembers before losing consciousness was being strapped into the helicopter.

The flight to University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) took just 11 minutes. On arrival, Joe was taken straight to theatre for emergency surgery, which lasted seven and a half hours. He had severed an artery, nine tendons, and two nerves in his hand. Thanks to the skill of the surgical team, his hand was saved but the road to recovery was far from over.

A few days later, Joe underwent another eight-hour operation. Despite the surgeons’ best efforts, complications arose months later, and Joe had to be readmitted to hospital. “They told me I might lose my thumb,” he explains. “It’s been tough, but I’m staying positive.”

Joe has been off work since the accident, but he’s determined to return to his job as a lorry driver this November. “The surgeons have told me my hand will never be the same again, but I’m just grateful to still have it,” he said.

Recently, Joe and his family visited one of The Air Ambulance Service’s bases to meet the crew and learn more about how missions are launched.

Inspired by his experience, the family of four are now planning to take part in an Ultra Challenge on the Isle of Wight next spring, hoping to raise enough money to fund a full mission for the charity. “We’ve been doing the charity lottery for years, but now we want to do something more to give back. I can’t believe The Air Ambulance Service is a charity! It’s just incredible what they do,” he said.

Looking to the future, the 64-year-old is excited about returning to work, enjoying time with his family, and eventually retiring to spend more time travelling, going on cruises, and tinkering with his motorbikes.

“I’m just so grateful,” Joe exclaimed. “Without my neighbours, the ambulance crew, and The Air Ambulance Service, I definitely wouldn’t have my hand.”