Former Army man survives 'catastrophic' injuries after his bike slipped on wet leaves and he crashed into concrete post

On January 8, 2017, Anthony Rowan kissed his wife goodbye and said he would be back soon as he jumped on his bike and made his way to the gym – a journey he makes every day.

His wife Joanne said she had been at work for less than 30 minutes when police arrived.

“By the look on their faces I knew it was serious,” she added. “I said ‘is he alive?’ and they said ‘yes, at the moment’. They took me straight to the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) in Newcastle.”

Anthony, who spent 18 years in the Army as a physical trainer - including teaching mountain biking, cannot remember the accident at all.

The 47-year-old, said: “From what I have been told I think my bike slipped on wet leaves or mud and I went over the handlebars and hit my head on a concrete post.

“I had a cut to my head with substantial swelling and I was placed in an induced coma on the roadside. I broke my back in three places, had a punctured lung, and bleeding on the brain.

"They bandaged my hands too, like boxing gloves, because I kept pulling out my feeding tubes."

Due to the fog that day, the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) could not travel to Anthony by helicopter and instead, travelled in the rapid response vehicle. They worked with North East Ambulance Service paramedics on scene.

Joanne has now paid tribute to the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) as well as the North East Ambulance Service for their work in keeping her husband alive.

She said: “The doctor at the RVI told me that the work that had been done on the roadside to help Anthony had been crucial and they had probably saved his life.

“Walking into the hospital was horrendous. Anthony was in a coma and he had a neck brace on, bandages all over and he was on a ventilator.

“My daughter and son were also there, and they were just teenagers at the time so you can imagine the shock.”

Anthony, who is originally from Liverpool, spent five weeks in the RVI but has since made a full recovery although he hasn’t yet been back on his bike.

He said: “The hospital said it was post traumatic amnesia and this went on for about three weeks but then I started to retain information.

“Once the bruising on my brain had went down, I had an operation on my spine and then plates and pins put in, but more than anything it was the brain trauma that affected me.”

Anthony has now decided life is too short and has went on to pursue a new career, landing his dream job as prison officer at HMP Durham.

He said: “I went for the job and got it. Then I went through ten weeks of training to qualify as a prison officer. It’s all thanks to GNAAS that I have been able to do this.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world.

But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you.

How to subscribe to the print edition:

It’s easy to subscribe to your local newspaper. We have arranged a special 20 per cent off subscription offer for people to take advantage of. Visit www.localsubsplus.co.uk, choose the newspaper title, the type of subscription and enter your details.