A mum who suffered a catastrophic injury while out running says doctors told her she was lucky not to have lost her leg. Rachel Finch, 37, from Warrington, suffered a 'freak' accident during a 14-mile training run with a friend, just weeks before she was due to run the 2023 Chester Marathon.
The NHS midwife, who works at Wythenshawe Hospital, said she was running well when she suggested cutting through a crematorium to change the route. She tripped over a gate stopper and placed her right leg awkwardly on the floor, causing her knee to lock. She collapsed, and later learned that her femur had punched out the back of her pelvis.
Rachel initially felt no pain and asked her friend to take a photo, thinking it would be part of her 'marathon story'. However, when she tried to move, she felt a piercing pain. After about 20 minutes, a group of concerned drivers stopped and one parked in front of her to prevent her from being run over.
Rachel initially asked her friend to call her father instead of an ambulance, but when her father arrived, he realised the severity of the injury and dialled 999. She waited two hours for paramedics, who gave her pain medication and carefully placed her on a board. She was taken to Warrington Hospital, where an X-ray revealed a broken pelvis, and then transferred to Aintree Hospital in Liverpool.
At Aintree, a doctor was waiting with a consent form, and Rachel was taken straight to surgery. Her foot had turned blue, and doctors were concerned that the femoral artery was blocked, which could have led to the loss of her leg. She was wheeled into the operating theatre still on the paramedics' board.
