A professional Mountain Biker injured deep in Sheffield woods is to appear on Helicopter ER next on Tuesday night (1st November).
Davi Birks was out mountain biking in a Sheffield woodland when he came off his bike after colliding with a tree and was knocked unconscious.
“I remember riding the quite technical descent into the woods, but after that I can’t remember anything”, said Davi.
While he was in and out of consciousness, Davi was able to get on his bike and flag down a dog walker to call for help. The emergency services were called, as well as Davi’s mountain biking friend who lived near and was able to pinpoint his location.
Due to the dense woodland and the remote location, Yorkshire Air Ambulance was dispatched. It was thanks to the app What3words, which provided the emergency services with his exact location, that he was found.
What3Words is an app that has divided the world into 57 trillion squares and given each square a unique three-word address that can be found using GPS. When a caller is unable to identify where they are, they can pass the three words generated by the app to the emergency services and they will be able to track their location within a three-mile radius.
The Yorkshire Air Ambulance crew assessed Davi and with fears that he had sustained serious chest damage he was flown to Sheffield Northern General for further treatment.
Doctors at the Northern General Hospital revealed that Davi had broken eight ribs, severely displaced his shoulder, and sustained multiple punctures to his lungs.
Speaking of his recovery, Davi said: “Recovery has been pretty tough. I’m used to leading a pretty active lifestyle so to have that taken away from you is really hard.” It was six months before Davi was back on his bike.
“Mountain biking means everything to me. I’ve always been around mountain bikes from riding motocross when I was younger to now working in the Mountain Biking industry. It’s a big part of my life. Without mountain biking, part of my identity has been taken away, but slowly and surely, I’m getting back into it”, he said.
Davi’s flight with Yorkshire Air Ambulance wasn’t his first time using an air ambulance service. Three years ago, Davi had an incident at loch Ness where he nearly drowned.
Davi’s incident will be featured on the Yorkshire Air Ambulance reality television show Helicopter ER, on Tuesday 1st November at 9 pm. The episode also features an injured veteran motorcyclist and a mum-to-be injured by a driver under the influence of alcohol.
Read more YAA News HERE.