On a Thursday afternoon in October 2009, Kim Bowler, 37, from Melbourne Australia, was taking a walk to the park nearby to sit for a while and read a book. The road was clear but she stopped at the traffic lights as there was a little child beside her who was waiting for the green man light. Before she knew it, she had been tragically hit by a car on the Cromwell Road in London and remembers rolling along under the car for some time.
Kim was severely injured, having broken all her ribs, shattered her right hip, both of her lungs had collapsed and her spine was also broken. London’s Air Ambulance medics were by her side in minutes, having landed on the roof of the Sainsbury’s nearby. Dr Karim Ahmed and Paramedic, Nick brown, quickly administered some pain relief for Kim, before performing a thoracostomy (where two incisions are made either side of the chest to help drain air from the lungs). The decision was made to fly Kim to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, and, as Kim was bleeding heavily, a Code RED was called in, alerting the Transfusion Department to have blood ready on the helipad as soon as Kim touched down.
Kim was not expecting to live and remembers being read the last rites and begging not to have her legs amputated. “I spent the first few weeks not understanding that I was really injured, and the following 8 months using anything that could possibly make me walk again,” said Kim.
“Having had a second and third operation on my spine and a total of 11 months in hospital, I was able to walk 5km in May in the Superhero Run to raise money for the London's Air Ambulance. It was a real personal goal, and a great way to say thank you to the staff.
“But the London’s Air Ambulance staff are the real superheroes. They swooped in, scooped me up and rushed me to hospital. Their job is to swoop in – with just one doctor and one ambulance worker – saving dead people basically. I would have died if it wasn't for them.”
Kim's recovery - Superhero 5km walk
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