I felt no pain, says chainsaw accident survivor

A man who suffered "catastrophic blood loss" when he accidentally cut his neck open with a chainsaw while gardening has recalled a series of fortunate events that led to his survival.

Christopher York was in his garden in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, when the chainsaw he was using became jammed, while cutting left to right, before it then followed through a branch and then "span around".

The 65-year-old said he then felt a "cold wetness" at his front and saw his blood-covered shirt.

Christopher said a number of coincidences, including a specialist vascular surgeon who happened to be at the hospital he was rushed to and then operated on him, meant he lived, and has thanked NHS staff who helped him.

Recalling the accident on 12 May, Christopher said: "Instead of [the chainsaw] kicking back, it leapt forward and span around, so the blade was spinning just over my shoulder.

"Then I felt a cold wetness at my front, my shirt was becoming covered in blood and it was coming down to my trousers."

Medics told Christopher he had cut only a few millimetres from his windpipe, and advised that he had cut slightly deeper, he could have quickly bled out.

Christopher added: "The nice thing was that it didn't actually hurt. It was entirely painless.

"I didn't know how serious it was, I just thought it was not much more than a paper cut at the time because I couldn't feel anything.

"But then my legs began to buckle. Really at no stage did I feel I was in danger, but I was."

Christopher's wife Veronika Semeradtova-York, 44, says she usually gets a coffee after going to the gym, but said the coffee machine was not working and so happened to arrive home 30 minutes early and found her husband bleeding heavily.

She and a friend, who also happened to go to the house to check on the pair at the time, phoned for an ambulance.

Paramedics had Christopher inside of the ambulance within eight minutes of arriving, but feared he would not survive a journey to a major trauma centre in Nottingham or Sheffield.

At the point paramedics arrived, Christopher had already lost about two litres of blood.

However, Christopher said: "The ambulance driver remembered that a specialist vascular surgeon from Derby was visiting Chesterfield [Royal Hospital] on that day by complete coincidence.

"I remember thinking 'although I don't think this is serious, they seem to and so will I survive this?'"

Christopher was taken to Chesterfield Royal Hospital, where staff would not normally treat major trauma.

"I had absolute faith in the NHS," he said. "I knew that whatever degree of treatment I needed, they would afford it and they did. They did what the NHS does and it was wonderful.

"Not only were they excellent medically, but they showed genuine care.

"God bless them all. The thanks of not only me, but my wife and our four children remain with them for eternity. We are a family because of them. There are no words for our gratitude."

In addition to the specialist surgeon's intervention, Christopher said just one month before the accident, his wife had urged him to get a tetanus jab.

According to the NHS, tetanus is a serious, life-threatening condition caused by bacteria getting into a wound.

"It turned out one of the big obstacles they had in theatre was removing all the leaves, grass, mud and twigs from the wounds," he said. "The tetanus jab protected me from that.

"Had my wife and friend not come, I would have died.

"Had the ambulance station not been up the road, they might have been delayed and I could have died of blood loss.

"Had the vascular surgeon not been there, they would have taken me to a hospital where the journey probably would have killed me.

"All these things came together. My main question is 'why?'. If God did intervene, why me?"

Lisa, a senior sister in the emergency department at Chesterfield Royal Hospital, said: "It went like clockwork, there was someone looking over him that day.

"He was very grateful to everyone in the hospital. Thanks to the staff that assembled that day, his wife has a husband and his children have a father."

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