In September 2022, Lewis from Elmswell was involved in a road traffic collision whilst on duty at work.

A 999 call was made and a SARS volunteer Paramedic, Steve Murrow was mobilised and was the first medical resource to reach Lewis. He was joined later by the Police, the Ambulance Service (EEAST) and an air ambulance (EAAA). On arrival, Steve realised that Lewis was lying in the biggest patch of oil, which in turn, made everything very slick including his clothes and hair. Lewis's wife Ella says to this day, she can still smell the oil when she thinks about it. Lewis remembers everything clearly right up to getting into the ambulance but then the next thing he remembers was coming round in Hospital and a colleague standing over him he remembers asking him “am I still handsome?” the response he got was…….“mate you have never been handsome!”.

Lewis sustained multiple serious injuries in the road traffic collision including a broken leg, a broken hand, a fractured ankle, a broken forearm, serious facial injuries, broken ribs and internal bleeding.

Lewis and his family have recently been reunited with Steve when they visited our stand at the South Suffolk Show this year. The meeting was one full of emotion and gratitude and he decided he would like to follow up with a patient story to help SARS raise awareness. Steve commented: “I felt privileged, for want of a better word, that I was one emergency service helping another emergency service personnel.”  Lewis commented: “Due to the nature of my injuries, I wasn’t able to return to work until 3 weeks before the anniversary of the incident – I was determined not to have been off of work for a year! I initially returned to office based restricted duties but I have since reached career goals that I thought I would never reach, Ella and I have got married and most importantly, I am still alive to watch my children grow up. If nothing else, the accident has proven that life is too short to sit still and if SARS hadn’t been first on the scene, there would not have been a story to tell!”.  

We are delighted that Lewis has made such a remarkable recovery, and we wish him and his family a wonderful future.