REUNIONS can often be emotional — and so it was when Lez James from Tavistock was reunited with Adrian Parker and Richard Walker, two Devon Air Ambulance paramedics, who attended him after an horrific accident last April.

It was Good Friday last year when Mr James was busy setting up a course for an archery competition for his club.

Always mindful of health and safety issues, he set about moving a dead tree stump — which inadvertently dislodged another dead tree that fell, hitting Mr James cleanly on the head.  

He suffered a traumatic head injury and was knocked unconscious.

Fellow archers rushed to his aid and called for emergency assistance.

When the Devon Air Ambulance arrived on scene, paramedics Adrian Parker and Richard Walker knew immediately that Mr James needed hospital treatment and prepared him for a flight to Derriford Hospital.

He remained in a coma for two weeks and was in hospital for more than nine weeks.

Mr James' head injuries were significant where the left side of his skull had been crushed and the frontal lobe was swollen. He also suffered facial fractures and, while still in a coma, he had a stroke and a subarachnoid haemorrhage.

Several months down the line, Mr James is still coming to terms with the accident. During his craniotomy (brain surgery) seven metal plates were inserted and, whilst the scars have now faded and there is little visual evidence of the trauma, he is aware that things are very different.

'I still have sharp shooting pains in my head and I have no sense of smell or taste,' he said. 'I've been warned that things may take as long as two years to settle down so I still have a long way to go.'

It's been a long road for the whole family. Mr James' wife, Sue, accompanied him to Exeter Airbase to meet paramedics Adrian and Richard.

'The last year has certainly been a roller coaster,' explained Mrs James. 'We've all had to accept that there's no "quick fix" following a brain injury and we have to let things run their course.

'Some things will undoubtedly be different from how they were before the accident but that's life. We are, however, so grateful to Devon Air Ambulance — we were told by the hospital doctor that if Lez hadn't been assessed and conveyed to hospital so swiftly, he wouldn't be here at all. That's a lot to take on board!'