Wildlife rescuer suffers an injury

Trevor Weeks was taken to hospital this week after he slipped and hit his head in the stream at Upper Dicker on Tuesday June 21.

Mr Weeks said: “It all happened so fast. I just slipped and before I knew it, I was on my back in the water. I felt sick and I was worried I was going to pass out and fall further into the water and drown.”

Although stunned, Mr Weeks was able to call his fellow rescuers who arrived at the scene shortly afterwards and called 999 for help.

WRAS manager Chris Riddington said: “I couldn’t believe it, seeing him like that was horrible, I just tried not to panic.

“It seemed he was drifting out of consciousness.”

Mr Weeks was treated by paramedics at the scene, before being taken by road to Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton. He was given the all clear the following day after a x-ray of his head.

Mr Weeks said: “A huge big thank you to the emergency services especially the fire and rescue service and the ambulance service for helping me out.

“I don’t remember much about the whole incident but it scared the hell out of me.

I was so glad that I had already called Chris to support me on the rescue, and pleased I put my hard hat on too.

“I started preparing the rescue and I used a ladder to climb down to the stream bed but lost my footing felt from the ledge, hit by head on the bridge wall and ended up on rocks in the water.

I managed to phone Chris and just about managed to explain I had fallen.

“I tried to move myself backwards to a different position and that’s when my pelvis screamed at me in one of the worst pains I have ever felt.

“I was soaking wet now, but luckily it was not a cold night, but none-the-less I was starting to shake and this just made the pain worse.

“I tried dialling 999 but I struggled to press the buttons on the phone.

“My chest and back hurt and I started to panic I was having a heart attack for someone, so many thoughts and feeling rushed through my mind.

“You try to make sense of it all, over think what is happening, and the fear makes it impossible to act rationally when you really need to.

“East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service as well as the South East Coast Ambulance Service were amazing. I had no idea how many people and resources were involved but from what Chris has explained to me since I am so grateful to them for all they did getting me out of the water safety and carefully.”

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