Chorley mum thanks 999 crew who helped save her son after his skull was fractured in hit and run crash

Daniel Palin was knocked off his bike and left critically injured - his skull fractured in several places.

The teenager came close to losing his fight for survival due to his horrific injuries.

Now his mother Tara Palin, 42, has said a huge thank you to the ambulance crew who attended the incident.

The accident happened in Chorley on June 1, 2018.

“He was going to his grandma’s with his cousin, riding his bike. He wasn’t riding fast, his cousin was walking,” said Tara, of Duke Street, Chorley.

“A car came round the corner on Myles Standish Way at speed and knocked him off his bike.”

Daniel, who had been riding a bicycle bought for him by his parents just a couple of months earlier because of how well he had been doing at school, was rushed to Manchester Children’s Hospital.

“He was in intensive care for four days and had to be put in an induced coma,” said Tara.

“He couldn’t walk. He had a fractured hip and his skull was fractured in, I think, four places - he had other minor injuries as well.

“He couldn’t open his eyes, his eyes were all bruised. He had a bit of blood on the brain.”

The teenager, a pupil at Parklands High School, Southport Road, Chorley, has not been back to school since the accident.

He has received teaching at home, and is seen by an occupational therapist and a neuro-psychologist for his post-traumatic stress.

He has a brain injury because of the accident.

Paramedic Pamela, emergency medical technician Dave and advanced paramedic Luke were the first on scene to treat Daniel.

Tara contacted the North West Ambulance Service as she was unable to stop thinking about the outstanding care Daniel received and how traumatic it must have been for the crews first on scene to see such horrific injuries.

She said: “We are so grateful for all their hard work and for saving my son’s life. Everybody involved deserves more than I or anybody could ever give. I could never thank them enough or find the right words because it still wouldn’t do any justice for how our family feels towards them.

“We are very lucky to still have Daniel with us and I honestly believe it is down to the fantastic knowledge, passion and dedication of the ambulance crews that helped him that day. Those people first on the scene had to make quick and important decisions. I spoke to people that sat with Daniel and they also told me how fast they got there to help.

“Daniel is learning to live a new life now. Physically he his fine but mentally and emotionally he has dealt with so much. I can’t even put into words what it means to have a brain injury as it’s so complex, it’s heart-breaking from a mother’s perspective but he is here with his family thanks to North West Ambulance Service.”

Daniel, 15, who lives with his mum, a cook at the Inspire Youth Zone in Chorley, dad Stephen, 41 and sister Lucy, 11, is playing football again.

A Bolton Wanderers supporter, he plays for a brain injury charity and took part in a match against a Manchester City community team at the Etihad Stadium.

He wants to be a plumber and hopes to study at Wigan and Leigh College.

His mum described him as “funny, with a good sense of humour, quite sporty and quiet if you don’t know him”.

Paramedics from across the North West are being happily reunited with the people whose lives they have saved.

As part of its wider campaign to educate the public on 999 use, and to highlight the prime examples of when and why people should be dialling it, the North West Ambulance Service has launched a heartwarming new scheme to reunite emergency callers with the ambulance crews and emergency call handlers who helped save their lives.

At the reunion with Daniel, emergency medical technician Dave said; “I don’t really get to see that many patients who actually come back to us just to say thank you. That particular instance, because he was so unwell, it’s great to see him come down, it really is.”

Tara was in the headlines in 2015 when she revealed she had to make a 220-mile round trip on public transport – at a cost of £100 a time – to see her mentally ill teenage daughter in the North East.

She organised an online petition to Chorley MP Lindsay Hoyle, calling for more localised mental health services.

Mr Hoyle called on local health bosses to tackle the situation.

The daughter is now in a supported living scheme in Fulwood.