Helicopter to the rescue - Agonising wait for help the worst time

Ruawai College head boy Mike Bickers reckons he plays rugby for the social enjoyment.

But in the height of the 2012 rugby season he had a rapid change of heart after requiring assistance from one of Northland’s Electricity Rescue Helicopters.

He’d been injured barely two minutes into a game against Kaihu – the recipient of a shoulder charge between his shoulder blades by a man much older and 40-odd kilograms heavier than the 18-year-old farm boy.

Mike was left lying prone on the side of Kaihu’s rugby ground with a potentially serious neck injury.

“I was almost blacking out and everything went tingly from my neck down,” says Mike.

“I tried to get up and that didn’t work so I tried to push myself off the field – I could feel my back swelling up straight away. It took a few minutes for people to realise I was injured. People from the Dargaville Fire Brigade were there to help out – they directed everything and phoned the ambulance.”

While people held Mike’s neck to keep him still until a brace arrived, he could do little but hope there was no long-term damage. A dose of morphine eased the pain but it was still a seemingly endless wait for help.

Once at Whangarei Hospital, Mike was x-rayed and initially it was feared he had a cracked vertebrae. However doctors then discovered it was naturally fused.

Five hours later he was on his way home but was kept off the rugby field for a month which meant he missed Ruawai College’s foray back into first XV rugby after a 20 year break.

“You see these people on TV and they look like they know what they are doing and that’s the way it turned out for me,” says Mike.

“The biggest relief when they arrived was the realisation it was almost over. There is so much experience in the Electricity Rescue Helicopter team. They were brilliant and I’m very thankful for their assistance. “It is something you don’t appreciate until it affects you. It sounds clichéd but how can you ever know when you will need it.”