Doctor in 1st Row Describes How Lucky Jimmy Was
January 28th, 2011
Dr. Gordian Fulde, who was in the first row at the Sydney concert on Australia Day, writes for the Daily Telegraph describing how he helped Jimmy after his fall and how serious it was:
You just knew it was bad. Watching it, it was like in slow motion because the show was all over, everybody was signing out mentally and physically.
Jimmy fell so horribly and I saw the angle and what he hit. I thought he might have had spinal injuries.
The reflexes kicked in and I went over to the fence and told security who I was, even though I didn’t look like a doctor dressed in shorts, a tank top and sandals.
This all happened in seconds. I jumped the fence and got to him the moment after he landed.
No matter how many patients you have seen it is still a shock when you have this crumpled human being, blood pouring out, they are white as a sheet, they are totally limp and you just don’t know what is wrong with them, what injuries they have.
The difficulty I had was it was a very small space and I didn’t want to straighten him out in case he had neck or spinal injuries.
Jimmy was crumpled up so he couldn’t breath properly, but he had a strong heart beat.
Behind me, I couldn’t really hear the crowd.
I heard a gasp of despair because anyone who saw it knew it had to be bad.
He was bleeding profusely from a very bad cut to his scalp. After a while, he started to wake up but was dazed.
As we wheeled him into the back of the ambulance he wanted to wave to fans.
I joined him in the ambulance to St Vincent’s Hospital and by the time he got there he began to recall the incident and was talking.
Continue reading Dr. Fulde’s column here.
Tagged in International, Personal/Family