Paul Q’s Story

Paul Quarterman (46) remembers everything about that day, 01 June 2024. It was just a normal practice at the motocross track near Crick, the last lap of the day. A small jump, nothing out of the ordinary—until he caught the accelerator of his bike. His feet came off the pegs, shoving him further down the bike, but he still held onto the handlebars.

The 450cc bike accelerated rapidly, causing the front end to lift as it surged forward. Paul collided with a fence and was thrown from the bike. He was propelled over the track and a parked van before remarkably landing on his feet in the car park.

They estimated Paul hit the fence between 70 – 80mph. He ended up almost 100 feet away. As it was happening, Paul had a fleeting thought: “Days of Thunder… uh oh, this is going to hurt.”

When he hit the ground, he couldn’t feel his legs. The pain was excruciating, but all he could hear were bystanders telling him to stay still as they rang for the emergency services.

“By that point, the way everyone was around me, I knew it was bad—I’ve had accidents before. You fall off, you thud when you hit the floor, and then you get back up and carry on. But this… this was different. It was scary lying there, not knowing what was going to happen,” recalls Paul.

Then a sense of relief washed over Paul when he heard the rotor blades of the helicopter. “I just knew—they’ll get me sorted.”

The call came into the Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance base at 14:09. The critical care crew were mobile within two minutes and arrived first on scene ten minutes later, ready to treat Paul. He was still on the ground when they reached him, helmet still on, breathing rapid, shallow breaths. He was pale and clammy due to dangerously low blood pressure.

“The doctor and critical care paramedic were there—I thought, how have you got to me so quickly?” says Paul.

Paul’s injuries were extensive: a broken breastbone, six broken ribs, a punctured lung and pneumothorax, a broken pelvic bone, tibia and fibula fractures in both legs, a broken right ankle, and a dislocated, fractured, and shattered left ankle. He had three broken toes in two places, dislocated toes in his left foot, nerve damage to his left foot, a ruptured tendon to the large toe on his right foot, four broken discs in his back, an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture in both knees, and a meniscus tear in his left knee.

The WNAA team assessed Paul and provided advanced pain relief. They manipulated his left lower limb to correct the deformity, placed him in a pelvic binder, and splinted his legs. With the help of bystanders, they carefully loaded him into the AgustaWestland 109 helicopter.

Concerned about blood loss, the crew set up blood products on the aircraft and administered a transfusion in flight, calling ahead to University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire (UHCW) to prepare for his arrival.

Paul underwent surgery on his left leg the following day, but his right leg had to wait for eleven days due to complications during surgery. His oxygen levels dropped unexpectedly—there was a moment when they thought they might lose him. Paul was sedated for three weeks, placed on a ventilator, and remained in the Intensive Therapy Unit (ITU) for four weeks.

“The ITU team struggled to get me to respond, but my wife played the Friends theme tune in my ear—and I woke up!” he laughs.

As soon as Paul opened his eyes, he was determined to get home to his family. Non-weight bearing on either leg for six weeks, his determination, mindset, and strength surprised even the consultants.

“They got me up on a Monday afternoon. I couldn’t stand, needed an A-frame as I couldn’t hold myself up. Tuesday, I walked with the A-frame. Wednesday, I used a Zimmer frame. Then I progressed to crutches, and by Friday, I was wheeled around to the hospital gym, used the crutches, and went up and down the steps twice. And then I went home,” he explains.

The first week at home was great, and Paul progressed quickly from a wheelchair to walking. By late November, he was back at the gym, training three to four days a week, rebuilding his muscles. With his incredible mindset, he hopes to return to his job as a lorry driver by the end of March.

“Recovery has been slow and hard, but things are slowly healing. Most of the injuries are healing nicely. I’m waiting for an operation on my left knee to reconstruct the ACL and repair the meniscus. I’m trying to build my legs and knees back up in readiness for the operation. My biggest issue is my left ankle—I lost a bit of bone from it, and the doctors aren’t sure if it will grow back or how much movement I’ll get back. The swelling is painful most days, but I’m getting there,” says Paul.

On 04 November 2024, Paul, his wife, and his daughter visited the WNAA airbase at Coventry Airport to meet the critical care crew who attended to him that day.

“I was so grateful to be able to visit the charity’s base and meet the crew properly. It’s something I never thought I’d ever get the chance to do. They were relaxed, and you can see why people feel at ease with them straight away. They were superb,” he says.

Paul had always known WNAA was a charity, but not everyone realises it is funded solely by donations. “If the air ambulance hadn’t been there, I would have been dead. When you watch the shows on TV and hear about incidents like serious car crashes, the air ambulance lands to help – If the service wasn’t there, there would be a lot more deaths”.

“They have the right people on the helicopter and Critical Care Car. The very best. They know what they’re doing when they get there,” Paul concludes.