Alex’s Story

In the first six months of 2023, Cornwall Air Ambulance was tasked to 258 trauma-related incidents. One of those missions was to help furniture maker Alex Bagenal, who had been using heavy machinery in his workshop near Falmouth when he suffered a traumatic injury, almost completely severing through all four fingers on his right hand.

It was the 4th April and Alex had been working late, he was pushing timber through the large table panel saw to cut it into strips ready for the next day when something went wrong. Feeling a bit dazed, he looked down to realise he couldn’t see his fingers. He grabbed an old dirty towel to wrap his hand in and called for help.

The local farmer drove him to the Minor Injury Unit at Falmouth Hospital. With the Cornwall Air Ambulance crew airborne and on their way back from another incident in Hayle, they were diverted to help. On scene, critical care paramedics Paul Maskell and Thomas Hennessy Jones, and doctor Dan Bawden, administered pain relief and stabilised Alex’s arm. He was taken by land ambulance to Falmouth rugby club, where he was transferred to the waiting helicopter and then airlifted to Derriford in Plymouth, which is the region’s major trauma centre.

At hospital Alex underwent a six-and-a-half-hour surgery where all four of his fingers were able to be successfully reattached.

Almost four months on since the incident Alex came to Cornwall Air Ambulance HQ to meet the crew and say thank you. He is recovering well and is undergoing physiotherapy both at Derriford and with the hand team based at Treliske. He has no nerves in two of his fingers and can’t bend them. He won’t be able to flex the knuckle in his right hand but is hoping to get some movement back and is currently at around 20% dexterity.

Alex said: “I have a hand! It will take years to recover but eventually I will have use of it. The fact that I can have 80% off my normal life back, that’s all down to your good team. The outcome would have been completely different if I haven’t have had Cornwall Air Ambulance.

“It is absolutely fantastic, I had never thought about being a patient, it’s absolutely lifesaving and I’m totally indebted to it. It’s fantastic, an absolutely lifesaving service.”

You can help more patients like Alex by supporting Cornwall Air Ambulance here.