6 September 2007

Colin was following his passion, paragliding, in Bedford on Saturday 1 September 2007, when just after take-off a gust of wind caused a full frontal collapse of his canopy. He was about 30m in the air and too low to recover. The canopy apparently partially filled but according to Colin, this seemed to aggravate the situation and accelerated his downward flight onto the rocks below. In time we will able to joke with him about his accident on Spring day. It has always been a favourite day of his.
Fortunately the other members of the Hawkwind Hangliding and Paragliding Club (www.hawkwind.co.za) were on hand and this is the report from them per Cal Dyker, Colin’s instructor:
“Just to fill you all in about Colin Kemp's crash in Bedford
Just after take off on thr NW side he had a full frontal\90 % collapse. He was probably 20-30 meters high and just off the first step of the launch.
He was to low to recover and was facing the mountain when he hit.
He suffered a broken Femur, broken pelvis (front and back) and broken upper arm, all on the left hand side.
We got to him in less than a minute and ran through basic first aid. Thank goodness for Jackie’s first aid kit, I gave Colin a Voltarin shot and Pierre (Doc) was luckily on hand to administer a drip and was a huge help in keeping Colin stable.
Thanks to Karen and Theo for organising a army chopper to evacuate Colin.
Thanks also to all present for helping and supporting.”
I saw Colin the day after his accident and was pleasantly surprised at what I saw. He was obviously in a lot of pain and discomfort but fully compos mentis and in relatively good spirits. He was a bit grumpy about not being able to smoke but quite philosophical about it. We bought him some Nicorettes.
Mom managed to book into accommodation right across the road from the Greenacres hospital and has been there for a week. According to her Colin was in a lot of pain before the op on Monday night, which was exacerbated by spasms which he was getting, causing the broken bones to move around but by Tuesday he asked the nurses to take him off the morphine and things were looking good, although he was still getting the spasms which were still causing him to cry out with pain.
On Tuesday night he started struggling to breathe and eventually apparently stopped breathing and was rushed to ICU where they stuck tubes in his lungs and put him on a ventilator. He also developed an infection and they have taken blood samples to try and identify which nasty little bugs they have to try and eradicate but at the time of writing he seems to be coping with the infection.
Lynette flew down to PE this morning, and was very pleased with what she saw – his colour is good, his kidneys and heart are all functioning and his eyes opened momentarily a few times.
They plan to keep him under heavy sedation for a day or two longer, until they can safely stop ventilating him artificially. Apparently the blood marrow can escape into the blood stream when a person suffers from bad fractures and that can create clots and when they get into the lungs, as apparently happened with Colin, can cause the person to stop breathing completely.
Evey day that passes brings him closer to the day when his bones will have completely healed. He fractured his left upper femur, a few inches under the hip joint, so there was fortunately no particular involvement, but it was badly fractured, with about three pieces displaced, and the pelvis was apparently not a bad fracture but even a slight fracture can be extremely debilitating and he will have to be flat on his back for at least six weeks. He then also had a fractured left arm right at the top inside the shoulder joint, from what I could make out on the x-rays. They have wired up both the leg and the arm but the pelvis has to heal on it’s own.
When I spoke to him Colin was very thankful of the fact that he had survived and that he had not broken his back or his neck. He is not allowed to have a cell phone in the High Care unit where he will be transferred to once he leaves ICU but within a week or so will have his cell phone with him. It is not clear at this stage when he will be permitted to come back to East London, but it looks like it will be in an ambulance when it happens, probably in about two weeks time, and then into a hospital here for a few weeks.
We are all very thankful for all the calls we have been getting from friends and family from here, from other parts of South Africa and from across the world. I must also mention that our cousin Esmé is on a long road to recovery after undergoing a relatively routine procedure in Cape Town and unfortunately contracting septicaemia. She underwent six operations in the space of a few days and it was touch and go for most of the time. She is at home but still very frail and with long term complications that still need to be resolved. Please also spare a thought for her and her family.
I will keep you all posted as things develop and am confident that in a few days will be able to post some photographs of Colin together with some good news about his recovery.
Special thanks to all at Kemp Estates for keeping the flag flying and to all Colin’s colleagues for your support and good wishes.
Leon Kemp