"What have YOU done today to make you feel proud?" Heather Small (2000)
"What have YOU done today to make you feel proud?" Heather Small (2000) |
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4th March 2002 |
Miracle marshal is fighting backby Andrew Wright
Determined Poole man Stephen Tarrant, who has cheated death four times, is now on the way to recovery and smiling through the pain.
Twelve weeks ago, the 39-year-old computer and telecommunications engineer survived being hit by a Formula One racing car travelling at 140mph. Further miracles followed as Stephen battled in hospital to cling on to life - surviving blood poisoning, gangrene and a blood clot - as his wife Jackie maintained a bedside vigil.
"My husband was incredibly lucky to survive. We nearly lost him four times since the accident," said Jackie, 38, who works for the Liverpool Victoria insurance company in Westbourne. "He's got to learn to walk again - he's really keen to get going," added Jackie, who confessed the past 12 weeks had been "awful" with her not knowing if her husband would survive his first nights in hospital.
The horrific accident happened on 24th June at the Goodwood Festival of Speed's hill climb in West Sussex as Stephen of Esmonde Way, Canford Heath, was a volunteer race marshal at the finish line. The Lotus racing car lost control, spun and smashed into hay bales, killing another marshal and the driver.
Now Stephen, who worked for Bournemouth insurance company Abbey Life and remembers nothing of the accident, has been transferred to Poole Hospital after treatment in London.
"I was very lucky - it was a case of someone obviously looking after me for some reason," he said. "You can lay back in bed and become a vegetable or you can accept you're only halfway through your life and you've got to start doing things again. Nothing is impossible. I'm totally optimistic about the future - there's no point in being any other way," he added.
The accident meant Stephen lost his right leg, had the bones in his left leg shattered, suffered internal injuries and lost a lot of blood.
Since the life-changing accident, he has had skin and muscle grafts to replace tissue that had been ripped away.
"Without the support Jackie has given me, it would have been very difficult for me to manage on my own," he explained.
The shattered bones of his left leg are held by pins and he will have to wear an adjustable metal frame for at least a year.
After the treatment - including the fitting of an artificial right leg - Stephen wants to return to work and his leisure passions of cycling, driving and motorsport marshalling. "Motorsport has been part of me for 35 years and I see no reason to stop it just because of one accident," said Stephen, who has been under heavy sedation during his first four weeks in hospital.
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