Andrew’s Story

On the morning of his wife’s birthday in August 2012, Doctor Andrew Tillyard was taking part in a triathlon on the Roseland when he was involved in a crash that left him with a life-changing brain injury.

Andrew, who was a Consultant Physician in Intensive Care at Derriford Hospital at the time, was just five minutes into the cycle leg of the competition when he collided with an oncoming camper van.

With Andrew having suffered a traumatic head injury, Cornwall Air Ambulance was tasked to the scene near St Mawes. The crew stabilised Andrew for the onward transfer to Derriford – the south west’s major trauma centre – where he worked.

In the emergency theatre, Andrew underwent surgery to remove the damaged part of his brain. He suffered a cardiac arrest on the operating table, and he was shocked twice with a defibrillator. Following the surgery Andrew was transferred to his own ward, the intensive care unit. “I was the consultant one day, and the patient the next”, he said.

Andrew’s family were told that he would be in a vegetive state. It has been a long road to recovery; he has had to re-learn how to walk and talk and it took years for any memories to return. Andrew still struggles with his working memory and says the recovery process has been mentally difficult to cope with. He said: “I didn’t have anything, I didn’t know who I was, when you don’t know where you are or who you are, it’s impossible to move forwards, I had lived for my work. I can’t tell you how difficult that is.”

Speaking about the difference Cornwall Air Ambulance made to his outcome, he said: “It was vital, I was essentially dead already. The service is clearly vital. Cornwall is such a long county, it’s thin and narrow and is impossible to get anywhere at any speed.”

Since the incident, Andrew has written a blog about his experience of living with a life-changing brain injury, which was later published as a book. Now over a decade later, Andrew works to further improve his memory every day and hopes to be able to deliver talks about how Cornwall Air Ambulance helped to save his life.