Joshua's story

On 21 March 2018, when Elisa dropped six-year-old Joshua off at school in Richmond, she envisioned a normal day before the usual pick up at 3:15pm. However at 1pm, the unthinkable happened.

“The school rang me and said I needed to go in because Joshua had had an accident,” described Elisa. “I thought maybe he’d hurt an arm or an leg. But when I arrived, the headteacher told me Joshua was unconscious and that an ambulance had been called.”

Joshua had been playing with friends in the playground under a bench, when its concrete plinth broke. A slab of concrete weighing 293kg fell directly onto Joshua’s head, smashing his skull. “It took four adults to lift the concrete off Joshua. There was blood and flesh across the floor,” said Elisa.

London Ambulance Service initially attended the scene, but it was evident that unconscious Joshua needed advanced pre-hospital care; requiring London’s Air Ambulance. “We didn’t know how many minutes Joshua had,” said Elisa. Our team was dispatched instantly. 

“I have a memory of the helicopter arriving and an amazing woman entering the scene. She had such charisma – I don’t think I have ever met a woman that strong in my life,” said Elisa, talking about London’s Air Ambulance’s Consultant, Dr. Anne Weaver. “She looked directly at me and spoke to me clearly, and I just knew she was going to do the best she could. 

"Those people are the best at what they do and in that moment I had complete trust."

Joshua was transported to The Royal London Hospital by helicopter, where he underwent multiple MRI and CT scans. After a tube was inserted into his skull to try and relieve the pressure, Joshua was placed in ICU, where he remained in a coma for nearly three months.

“The first time I saw him in hospital, in the emergency room, I didn’t recognise him. I thought to myself, ‘that’s not my son’,” said Elisa. “His head was just giant. But then I recognised his hands and body.”

In mid June, Joshua started to regain consciousness. When he awoke, he was blind, unable to speak and unable to walk. He could not eat or drink. “It was incredibly disturbing for him – he didn’t know where he was,” said Elisa. Due to the severity of his brain injury, Joshua’s emotional control was also impacted and he could therefore have violent episodes.

Now four years on from the accident, Joshua is attending a mainstream school in Rome, where the family of four have relocated to.

“Joshua has got all his senses back, and he can walk and run and play,” said Elisa. “He has a great sense of humour, and most importantly, he is here.”

The severity of his brain injury means Joshua will have life-long consequences, but to what extent is not known. “We have been told to wait until puberty to see. Joshua is still making progress,” said Elisa.

“Joshua still faces cognitive, vision, speech and language and balance challenges. He has facial palsy on one side of his face which affects his soft palette and therefore his speech. We are also still working on emotional regulation. But he keeps making progress.”

During Joshua’s recovery, our Patient Liaison Nurse Frank introduced Elisa and her husband to other parents who had experienced accidents.

“We got to meet Sacha’s parents, which was game changing for us all. It was brilliant to hear about his recovery.

"We’re still in contact now: that’s just another thing London’s Air Ambulance Charity did for us, beyond saving Joshua. The good they do just keeps on going."

Elisa also met our previous patient Bruno at Tadworth Rehabilitation Centre. Bruno was hit by a car and had a traumatic brain injury, but has made an astounding recovery. Recently, Bruno spoke at our annual fundraising gala, helping us raise over £1 million.

At school, Joshua is completing the mainstream curriculum with a full-time carer. “The school has a very good special needs department. They speak the same language we do and they just get it. They have big aspirations for him: they said want him to go to university. It’s amazing,” beamed Elisa.

“The last four years have been a tsunami. But we are a very strong family. We are very close together, and we can only thank London’s Air Ambulance Charity for that.”