Miracle escape: 34 medics battle to save man who "died" twice after being crushed by a truck

He was already “dead” when a doctor arrived to find his bowel and bladder lying in the road outside of his body.
A man who had his insides ripped out and “died” twice before reaching hospital after he was hit by continue reading
a lorry in an alleged attack has made a full recovery.
Lewis Godfrey, 23, was already “dead” when a doctor arrived to find his bowel and bladder lying in the road outside of his body.

But the quick-thinking medic wrapped him tightly in a blanket and saved his life.
Dr Nicholas Foster, the first on the scene, said: “I saw the most horrific injuries – he had been ripped open.
“The level of trauma was so massive he shouldn’t have made it. I had to stop the bleeding, so we put him back together and wrapped him up.”

Few could expect to survive being dragged under the wheels of a 15-ton HGV but Lewis, who compares himself to Humpty Dumpty, beat all the odds.

And, unlike the nursery rhyme character, he has stayed in one piece, thanks to the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham.

Dr Foster revived Lewis at the scene, but his heart stopped again in the ambulance, before he slipped into a coma.

The cable technician, from Loughborough, Leics, said: “It has taken a while for everything to sink in.
"I can’t remember anything from the accident, but I am really shocked when my dad tells me bits about what happened.

“I’m lucky and my heart goes out to every single person that helped look after me.
"Without them I wouldn’t be here today. They pieced me back together, like Humpty Dumpty.”

Lewis was enjoying a night out in Loughborough with mates when he was attacked by a gang in June.
He was allegedly hit on the head and pushed in front of the truck.

The lorry driver was unaware of the collision, meaning Lewis was dragged under the wheels for several feet.

He suffered massive blood loss, severe head injuries, broken pelvis and lost all the muscle on his upper right leg.
A foot-wide band of tissue was ripped from his abdomen, leaving his bowel and bladder outside his body.

A team of 34 doctors and nurses battled to save Lewis’ life after the accident on June 2 this year.
Surgeon Daren Forward, who operated on him at Queen’s, said: “When he came in it was clear he’d been crushed under a lorry.

"He had a bleed in his head, with a substantial head injury.

“The skin had essentially been ripped off his body in a band about a foot wide. His bowel had been damaged and his bladder ripped off.”

Lewis’ dad Graham Godfrey, 48, added: “They draped a sheet over him to cover his injuries, and I held his hand for a bit, and whispered in his ear to keep fighting.”

Lewis spent 16 days in a coma and was expected to suffer brain damage and never walk again.

But he has recovered and hopes to be back at work in January. Two men are charged with grievous bodily harm and one with affray. They are due at Leicester crown court on December 5.
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