Meet the patients
This article was first featured in the Trust's Connect| magazine.
Brave Flaggy's amazing recovery
Paul Flagg has amazed medical staff with his fight for survival after suffering horrific injuries when he was hit by two cars.
The dad-of four suffered life-threatening head and chest injuries as well as breaking his pelvis and both his arms and legs in the October 2007 crash.
And now, just over a year later, the 28-year-old is looking forward to Christmas and New Year at home with his family after making a miracle recovery.
It will be very different to last year, when he was allowed home for Christmas Day only, before having to go back to Southampton General Hospital to continue his recovery.
Paul, from Swaythling in Southampton, spent three weeks in a coma in the hospital's General Intensive Care Unit, while his wife, Emma, and mum, Shirley waited by his bedside, unsure if he would survive.
On January 2nd 2008, Paul went home to Emma and their children. He said: "The hardest part was learning to walk again - I couldn't even stand when I first went home and was using a wheelchair. Emma had to feed me, as I couldn't lift my right arm at all. I still have problems with my right shoulder, but apart from that I'm almost there now."
By the end of June, Paul started walking using crutches. He still has physiotherapy at the hospital most weeks, but can now walk unaided.
Max Jonas, one of the intensive care consultants who looked after Paul, said: "He is made of strong stuff - other people with his injuries would not have made it. It took a lot of hard work and time but it just goes to show what we can achieve."
When Paul was well enough to leave intensive care, he was moved to a bed on surgical high care, before moving to F2, an orthopaedic ward.
Orthopaedic consultant Gavin Bowyer said: "We had to treat Paul one stage at a time, and the first priority was to save his life."
This involved stabilising his pelvis and using interventional radiology to stop the bleeding from one of his major vessels.
The next stage was surgery to deal with the injuries that threatened his limbs, including temporarily fixing an external frame on his right leg.
Once this was achieved, the team focussed on getting the use of all his limbs back, which had suffered from the effects of long term splinting and disuse.
Gavin said: "It is extraordinary that he survived and has made such a good recovery. Twenty years ago he would have died from these injuries, but he was saved by the co-operative teamwork of the trauma specialists, intensive care consultants and allied team.
"It was a combination of what we call 'damage control orthopaedics', with a high level of input from intensive care, radiology and physiotherapy."