A teenage footballer left with a serious leg injury sustained in a freak accident when a football tackle went wrong, has thanked the Yorkshire Air Ambulance crew who came to his rescue at a recent friendly match in Flixton, near Scarborough.
Yorkshire Air Ambulance provides a life-saving rapid response emergency service to five million people across four million acres of Yorkshire.
On 25h September 2022, Harry Sollitt-Bevan from Pickering, who was 15 years old at the time, was playing football for his local under 16-year-olds football team when he went in for a tackle and accidentally ended up with a double compound leg fracture.
Julian Bevan, Harry’s dad, said: “There was no malice, it was a 50/50 challenge that simply went wrong. Harry was incredibly brave, he never cried or said anything, he just got on with it. I think I was struggling more than him!”
The football club called the emergency services and due to the serious nature of the fracture, Yorkshire Air Ambulance was dispatched. After administering vital pain relief, a decision was made to fly Harry to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough for further treatment.
As soon as he arrived at the hospital, Harry was rushed in for emergency surgery to clean the wound and a second operation took place the next day to pin his leg. Harry had nearly 16 hours of surgery and was in the hospital for two weeks. He is currently wearing a Lazarus frame to help his injury heal.
Recovery for Harry is still in the very early stages. However, he does have his mind set on fundraising for the charity that came to his aid when he is better.
“As soon as we reached the hospital, Harry said that he wanted to fundraise for the air ambulance. I don’t think he even realised how much they rely on public generosity until we had a chat about ideas”, said Julian.
Speaking of Yorkshire Air Ambulance, Julian said: “Everyone involved in his care has been amazing and that started on the pitch with Yorkshire Air Ambulance. They were brilliant and we cannot thank them enough for picking Harry up and taking him to the hospital.”
Yorkshire Air Ambulance responds to an average of four incidents every single day and last year, the Charity treated 1,700 patients across Yorkshire. To find out how you can support Yorkshire Air Ambulance and to read more patient stories, please visit: https://www.yorkshireairambulance.org.uk/