A MOTHER praised the “miracle” by which her 16 year-old son was saved by the air ambulance team and medics after he was run over by the tractor he was driving.
Declan Keating, from Kircubbin, was seriously injured on May 3 when he was suddenly thrown out the tractor’s side door to the ground before the rear wheel of the nine-ton vehicle went over him.
His 14 year-old brother, Eoin, who was with him at the time, bravely managed to bring the tractor to a stop on the Lisbane Road. He then raised the alarm with their parents, Valerie and Declan senior, who rushed to be with their son.
Paramedics were quickly on to the scene, but on the way to Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH), the teenager needed a life-saving blood transfusion due to his major internal injuries.
The ambulance was met in Greyabbey by a doctor and the emergency helicopter team where the procedure was carried out before Declan continued on to hospital by air.
The Year 12 student from St Patrick’s Grammar School, Downpatrick, later underwent eight hours of surgery to save him.
Two and a half weeks later, Declan was back at home recovering with his family and vowing to get back on to a tractor as soon as he is fit and able.
Eoin, who also attends St Patrick’s Grammar School in Downpatrick, wants to give another person a chance of survival.
He has started a Just Giving appeal to fund the province’s helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) and raise at least the £5,500 it costs to run it per day. The family has now raised nearly £24,000, including gift aid for the service as their thanks for saving Declan.
Mrs Keating says her son has a “long road to recovery with rehabilitation and further surgery down the line” but they are “forever indebted” to the air ambulance and the entire hospital team who cared for Declan. She said surgeons told her that he was “extremely lucky” as the accident could have had fatal consequences.
Reliving the morning of the accident when Declan — whose nickname is ‘The Milkman’ — and Eoin had just left home to go their uncle’s farm for the milking at 6am, is still traumatic for Mrs Keating.
She said: “I don’t like to think about what happened to Declan. For what happened and how it happened, it’s nothing short of a miracle for him to be here. We were told that if his injuries had been one centimetre one way or the other, it could have been a lot worst. There were terrible injuries but at least there was no injury to his head or spine head.
“It was just a freak accident and hopefully nothing like this will ever happen again. However, Declan has told me that he will be back in the tractor as soon as he can walk.”
Mrs Keating said Declan had passed his tractor driving test late last year and was used to driving their tractor to her brother’s nearby dairy farm.
“The boys had set off from home and were literally just yards down the road when the accident happened,“ she continued. “We are not sure how but Declan said that one minute he was driving and the next he was flung out the side door onto the road and the tractor ran over him.
“The tractor continued moving and Eoin managed to get it stopped and immediately checked on Declan and called his daddy.
“Declan was fully conscious and realised he was badly injured. He checked if his legs and arms worked. He thought that his pelvis was broken and wanted to see if he was paralysed and somehow managed to get himself up and walk over to the other verge before his legs gave way. He was sitting up when me and his father arrived at the scene.”
Mrs Keating said that while both Declan and Eoin were naturally shocked by what had happened, she was proud of both her sons’ presence of mind during the horrific accident.
“Eoin called us 17 seconds after the accident and we were there within minutes,” she said. “Declan was alert the whole time when the ambulance and paramedics arrived.”
Mrs Keating and her husband followed behind the ambulance as Declan was rushed to the RVH. An emergency doctor met the ambulance in Kircubbin before continuing on. However, the parents feared the worst when the ambulance pulled over at the tennis courts in Greyabbey.
“The doctor jumped out of the ambulance and told us not to worry, Declan was OK. He was going to give him a blood transfusion as he was losing blood internally and the air ambulance was on its way. Literally, it seemed the helicopter arrived just seconds later and Declan was transferred by air then to the hospital.”
Mrs Keating said that the blood transfusion was vital to Declan at that time, adding: “For remote communities where we live, the air ambulance is an essential service. They only have started carrying blood supplies earlier this year. If he hadn’t have gotten the blood, he may not have been here.”
Declan’s injuries were found to be significant. He sustained a broken pelvis, perforated bladder and bowel, a collapsed lung, three broken ribs, internal bleeding and bruising.
Mrs Keating said: “The accident and emergency doctor said he would have expected anyone else to be in a critical condition with the range of injuries but Declan was in a serious condition which showed us what a fighter he was and he wasn’t letting it get the better of him. We took some comfort from this at that time.”
She said that three teams of specialist surgeons operated on Declan for more than eight hours to deal with his major injuries.
“The surgeons were extremely worried about Declan and I kept asking if he was going to be OK. The surgeon would only say that he was out of immediate danger and that the next 24-48 hours would be critical,” she said.
Declan spent three nights in intensive care before moving into another ward. Mrs Keating said that the care Declan received was “first-class” and spoke of how caring the medics were to their plight.
“Declan’s father and I wanted to be with him through the night. At one point the ward sister called us over and offered us the sleep room the surgeons use for rest during their shift. They gave up that room for us for three nights so we could be with Declan and we saw just how busy they all were. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts for their kindness.”
The family say they were overwhelmed by the support and well wishes they received from their local community and their donations to the appeal.
Mrs Keating added: “Declan will recover and he can’t wait to be up again at 6am every morning to help on the farm as he just loves the farming life. The air ambulance was the legacy of Dr John Hinds [the late emergency medicine specialist] and it would be remiss of me not to remember him and what he did for others during his life and his campaign to get the service. We are forever indebted to him and the air ambulance service for saving Declan’s life.
“Regarding farm accidents in Northern Ireland, we know we are one of the more fortunate families and we are so thankful. I hope people continue to give money as it’s a vital service for the whole of Northern Ireland.”
To donate go to www.justgiving.com/fundraising/eoin-keating.