Dan is fighting back after crash (From Swindon Advertiser)

Dan is fighting back after crash

10:20am Saturday 13th June 2009

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A SWINDON war hero who ‘died’ in the road after a horrific motorcycle smash is recovering in hospital.

Lance Bombardier Dan Richards lost his right arm from the shoulder down after crashing into the central reservation on London’s North Circular.

The 23-year-old of the Kings Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, was thrown from his Triumph Daytona 600 motorcycle into a central reservation before bouncing onto the dual carriageway.

Friend Alan Peelo had been following on his motorcycle when Dan lost control of his bike. Alan, a Gunner in Kings Troop, stemmed his friend’s bleeding and directed others on the scene until the emergency services arrived.

Dan’s leathers were split open, both ankles were broken and his left arm smashed.

But despite his heart stopping at the scene, paramedics managed to drag him back from the brink, dosing him up on powerful painkillers morphine and ketamin and airlifting him to Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel. He remains in hospital in a stable condition – exactly two weeks since that fateful day.

Mum Nikki Yeates, a human resources and payroll administrator at the Swindon Advertiser, said: “I’m just so thankful that he’s alive.”

Nikki and daughter Heidi, 21, were rushed to Dan’s bedside by Wiltshire Police and London’s Metropolitan Police but had to wait six hours before doctors could let her see him.

“I remember the phone ringing and thinking ‘Oh it’s my mate I don’t feel like talking’ but for some reason I picked up,” said the 46-year-old from Baileys Corner, Cheney Manor.

“He said: ‘Are you the mother of Daniel Richards? Your son has been in a serious road traffic accident and is currently in surgery’.

“I think all I said after that was okay, okay, okay.

“Before I knew it, I was in a police car blue-lighting it up the motorway.”

But nothing could have prepared Nikki for what she heard when she arrived.

“A doctor came to see me and said that they’d saved Daniel’s life but they couldn’t save his arm,” Nikki said.

“Heidi and I just fell into each other, we were devastated. I couldn’t stop the tears.”

But the full horror of the accident was only realised when Nikki saw her son for the first time since hearing the news – only to see that as well as his arm, he had also lost his right shoulder.

“I had just thought he’d lost his forearm – as if that’s not bad enough,” said Nikki. “But I hadn’t realised he’d lost his shoulder too. We were all just crying in the relatives room.”

But with Dan’s consciousness came relief and eventually a laugh as after he was told about his arm he worriedly asked the doctor if his manhood was still intact.

“That’s typical Daniel really,” said Nikki. “I was proud of him before but seeing how he’s taken this news is astounding and it’s a miracle he’s even here to see another day.”

The former Nova Hreod pupil’s next concern was for the promising career he’d worked six years to build.

The young soldier was due to help lead the Trooping the Colour as commanding officer’s trumpeter for the Queen’s birthday parade today on horseback and had spent May 30 – the day before his accident – rehearsing at Horse Guards Parade in London.

Sadly Dan will have to watch the parade from his hospital bed, preparing himself for the day when he will join his colleagues at Horse Guards again.

His sister Heidi has written to the Queen to tell her about his disappointment at not being able to perform his duties. As for his future in the Army, military bosses say there’s every chance that the model trooper will join them once again in the future.

Captain Max Chenery, left section commander of Kings Troop, said he had high hopes for the young soldier.

“Dan is a valuable member of the section and with his sense of humour and natural charisma, is often the centre of attention and can be heard a mile off,” said Capt Chenery.

“It’s for this reason that the troop has pulled together, with many of our soldiers making a daily journey from St John’s Wood to Whitechapel every day to visit him.

“Our commanding officer has every intention of keeping Dan in the Kings Troop subject to a medical assessment, he is sure that we can find a job for him as it would be a shame to lose a soldier like Dan. All we want him to do now in concentrate on the road to recovery and the future.”

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