THE dramatic story of how a York Sunday league footballer had his life saved after a clash of heads during a game is set to apprear on TV.
Father-of-one Jon James was playing for York-based Huntington Rovers against local rivals Wigginton Grasshoppers when the freak accident occurred on January 30 last year.
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As The Press reported at the time, Jon was playing in a local derby game at Wigginton when his skull was shattered above the right eye after he and an opposing player both went for a header.
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“It was a complete accident but the other guy’s head hit me full force,” said 37-year-old Jon.
“I was so lucky that Wiggington’s goalkeeper is an ex-army paramedic and realised the seriousness of my injury straight away and called the emergency services.”
The closest Yorkshire Air Ambulance helicopter was immediately was dispatched, but when Jon’s condition deteriorated, a second aircraft with a doctor on board was sent to the ground in case he needed to be placed in a medical coma at the scene.
The dramatic on-pitch efforts to save Jon’s life are featured in the next episode of Helicopter ER - the reality TV series featuring the work of Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
Jon, from Rawcliffe, had fractured his skull and eye socket in the collision and loose bone had also damaged nerves behind his eye threatening his sight. He was taken to Leeds General Infirmary major trauma centre where surgeons were able to repair the nerve damage and insert two metal plates into his skull.
“I was able to go home after a week but then had to lie down as much as possible for the next three months while the bones healed and fused properly,” added father-of-one Jon.
“I had a phased return to work over the next three months waiting for my sight to come back completely with regular tests so I could drive again.
“I’m just so grateful to the air ambulance, the goalkeeper Russ Howarth and everyone there on the day. They were all amazing and genuinely saved my life.
“And people have just been so kind. When I couldn’t work a GoFundMe page was set up to help which was just incredible. I genuinely feel like the luckiest man in the world.”
Although Jon has had to give up football, he was able to make an appearance in the final few minutes of Huntington Rovers’s last match of the 2022 season to clinch the York league title – even scoring with the last kick of the game.
His dramatic story features in Friday’s episode (February 17) of Helicopter ER, made by Air TV for Warner Brothers Discovery, which follows the life-saving work of the rapid response emergency service.
The programme, which airs on Quest at 9pm, also features a good turn for a friend which ended in potentially serious angle grinder injuries and a major road accident involving an overturned pig lorry.
Serving a population of approximately five million people across Yorkshire’s four million acres, YAA operates two air ambulances from airbases at The Nostell Priory Estate near Wakefield and RAF Topcliffe near Thirsk plus two Rapid Response Vehicles.
The rapid response air emergency service relies totally on public donations. To find out more go to www.yorkshireairambulance.org.uk
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