A MOTORIST who was left with life-changing injuries after a crash on the North York Moors is to feature on TV next week.

Graham Wilkinson was on his way to Ravenswick Hall in Kirkbymoorside for work when a car tried to overtake him. As he moved out of the way, his car spun out of control into a dry stone wall.

Passers-by who recognised Graham stopped to help, and a retired policeman who was in the area, called the emergency services.

“I knew I’d done something to my back quite quickly when I couldn’t get out of the car. I was really thankful that someone stopped, it was quite early in the morning and it could have been awhile until someone came along”, said Graham.

Graham, from Ingleby Barwick, was stabilised on scene by a Yorkshire Air Ambulance crew and was subsequently flown to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, where tests later revealed that he had an unstable vertebrae fracture and fractured wrist and elbows. He spent three weeks in hospital immobile.

“The Yorkshire Air Ambulance arrived on scene really quickly and it was a very smooth ride. The paramedics originally suspected a hemothorax and I’m sure that if I did have that, the quick transfer time would have saved my life,” said Graham.

Graham has now made a remarkable recovery after the crash on July 26, 2018. While he does struggle from a weakened left leg, which he is undergoing physiotherapy for, Graham has been able to return to work.

Graham’s accident will feature in Monday’s episode of Helicopter ER, the award-winning UKTV programme which follows the life-saving work of Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

The episode, which airs at 9pm on Really, also features a serious accident at a well-known motorbike rally, a college student hit by a car and a landscaper who had a serious accident doing some work in his garden.

Helicopter ER is made by York-based Air Television who have won five Royal Television Society awards for their work on the compelling series. You can catch up with any episodes you miss on UKTV Play.

Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) serves five million people across Yorkshire and carries out over 1,500 missions every year. The charity operates two, state-of-the-art Airbus H145 helicopters and needs to raise £12,000 every day to keep saving lives.