Meet the patients: Ricky Fernandez
In the summer of 2007, Ricky Fernandez's friends and family were preparing for the worst. A motorbike crash had left him with horrific, life-threatening injuries and it seemed unlikely he would pull through.
The accident happened near Winchester, on 11 August 2007. In a twist of fate, two off-duty doctors were first on the scene after taking a wrong turn, and were able to clear Ricky’s airway. Ricky was rushed to Southampton General Hospital by ambulance. Although closer to another emergency department, the paramedics knew that his best chance of survival was the specialist neurological department in Southampton.
He was admitted to intensive care, where his mother, Lin, and fiancée, Michelle, were told he was unlikely to survive due to the severity of his injuries. If he did make it, they were warned he could be brain damaged and paralysed.
Ricky had a massive fracture to his skull, which caused extensive bleeding and swelling on his brain. In addition, he dislocated his shoulder, broke his nose, fractured other parts of his face, broke his back in three places, had compound fractures to his left leg, broke the right side of his pelvis, ruptured his spleen and punctured his lung.
Despite the slim odds of him surviving, Dr Andy Eynon, the director of neurological intensive care, vowed to do everything he could to try and save him. Ricky’s injuries were prioritised, with the first aim being to reduce the swelling on his brain. Michelle said: “Andy explained everything to us and made us feel so much better. The whole team were brilliant.”
The hospital’s neuroradiologists spent hours feeding nearly 50 platinum coils into Ricky’s head to block the tear in his artery. This was done through a catheter inserted into an artery in his groin and fed up into his skull, removing the need for surgery. He said: “Andy has told me I’ve got a very expensive head, with all this platinum in it!”
Once the swelling was reduced, the orthopaedic team, under Mr Edward Gent, were able to start dealing with Ricky’s broken bones. By this time his leg had swollen to twice its normal size. Michelle said: “The day Ricky moved his feet for the first time was the best day ever.”
Ricky said: “The nurses were fantastic and let my family wheel me outside in my bed for some fresh air.
“It was a long time before I could stand, because I was only partially weight bearing on my broken left leg. The uneven weight could have made my back injury worse - the breaks were so severe, I could have been paralysed if I’d stood up too soon.”
The whole neuro physiotherapy team were involved in Ricky’s care from the day he arrived to the day he left the hospital. Initially, this involved assisting with respiratory care while he was on a ventilator, and passive movements to his limbs. Then the team worked with Ricky on exercises, both in bed and sitting in a chair, which they tried to relate back to football - a theme close to his heart.
No-one expected Ricky to leave hospital before Christmas, but by the middle of November, just 14 weeks after his accident, he was well enough to go home.
He still has regular physiotherapy, using the hydrotherapy pool, and has more scans soon to check the coils in his brain, but thanks to the teamwork at SUHT he is well on the way to making a full recovery.
Dr Eynon said: “Ricky’s brain injury was extremely severe indeed and it is so pleasing to see what a remarkable recovery he has made. This was a real team effort.”
This story was first published in Connect| magazine.