A former Slaithwaite firefighter’s life changed forever in 2014.
Dad-of-two Pete Lau – married to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary A&E sister Debbie – was paralysed in a cycling accident and has talked openly about the trauma he suffered in 2014.
He had a thirst for sport and the outdoors lifestyle along with a passion for everything from motorcycling to mountain biking, kayaking and scuba diving.
And after 24 years with West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service at Slaithwaite and the Dewsbury area, the 48-year-old had risen to the rank of Assistant District Commander for Bradford.
But everything changed on April 5. Pete had gone out cycling with six friends in Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, when he was in a collision with a car on a downhill country lane.
He said: “I remember coming round at the side of the car and trying to stand up and not being able to move my legs and this really odd sensation in my legs. It felt like my legs were hovering.
“I can remember not being able to breathe very well. I had collapsed both lungs. It was massive pain, that feeling of not being able to breathe – it was like you were drowning.
“I knew it was bad. One of the things you learn in the fire service is how to do a casualty assessment and feel down the body for distortion or pain. I did that to myself and realised I could not feel my hands touching myself.”
The Great North Air Ambulance flew Pete to The James Cook University Hospital in Teesside where he was taken straight to intensive care.
He then spent four weeks in a coma with Debbie at his bedside.
Debbie, a trainee advanced practitioner and Senior Sister in A&E at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, said: “When it’s your husband that’s the ‘trauma call’ I found that coping strategies kicked in to protect me from my fears and anxieties of the injuries my loved one had suffered.
“For other members of my family it may feel very different and I’m not sure how they all coped as well as they did with the experience of intensive care, dealing with the news of Pete’s accident and the report of the devastating injuries he had suffered. Tears, frustrations and exhaustion didn’t make it plain sailing, but life never is – something emergency care teaches you about.
“Being together with our family for me is key, something I now cherish more than ever.”
After Pete came round from his coma he then spent two weeks on a high dependency unit where he was heavily sedated before moving to the spinal unit.
His vertebrae was shattered and bone had been pushed through his spinal cord. Pete underwent major surgery to place a metal rod in his back.
He was on a ventilator for around a month, causing him to need a tracheotomy but unfortunately contracted double pneumonia. It was two months before he could speak.
Pete said he went through stages of denial, frustration and anger.
“It’s true with a spinal injury you have to, in effect, mourn the loss of your legs and you go into a state of denial for a long period of time,” he said. “With the medicines I was on I convinced myself this was a bad dream.”
In June, Pete was moved to Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield to start the next phase of his rehabilitation which he said marked the beginning of “rebuilding” himself.
In October, after seven months, Pete was finally able to come out of hospital and to his new home, a bungalow in Baildon, Bradford.
He said: “I have lost so much ability and function but am thankful that I am left with the ability to look after myself as an independent adult.
“Being able to give your loved ones a hug is a huge comfort. Many people I shared the ward with were left with limited upper body function too – I am one of the lucky ones. What I endured almost killed me, but I’m a fighter. I’m still here, still smiling and looking forward to the new challenges ahead of me.
“My message to people is that you only have one life so live it well, but if something like this happens to you it’s not the end.”
Pete has a fundraising page at www.gofundme.com/dpaftc to buy equipment he needs to get back to an active lifestyle. The £4,000 already raised means he can get a specialist lightweight wheelchair and he also wants a hand-powered cycle so he can get back to cycling.
