Thomas Orr from Taupō now lives with a prosthetic leg after a huge loader crushed his leg in 2021. Photo / Greenlea Foundation Trust
Thomas Orr from Taupō now lives with a prosthetic leg after a huge loader crushed his leg in 2021. Photo / Greenlea Foundation Trust
A Taupō man who was fighting for his life on an isolated road after a huge loader crushed his leg, says he “wasn’t ready to die” that day.
Thomas Orr is now using his experience to remind others how vital rescue helicopters, crediting the Greenlea Rescue Helicopter crew for his survival three years ago.
It was an overcast day and raining lightly at about 2pm, as Orr reflected on the incident that took place on December 14, 2021, with the Waikato Herald.
He was bringing back a loader on a transport trailer from their work base at Poronui, something he’d done “a thousand times before.”
He pulled over to check the “heavy load” on the corner of Taharoa Road and State Highway 5, when the loader slipped off the trailer and trapped him underneath. His leg was crushed.
With no phone reception or anybody in sight, he knew he had to do something.
Thomas Orr was trapped underneath a huge loader for about 45 minutes before a passerby found him and emergency services were alerted.
“I just wasn’t ready to die ... I was pretty determined to get myself freed and live another day.
“I panicked for a bit and then I saw the pool of my blood on the ground just getting bigger and bigger. I knew I needed to stop the bleeding from my leg.
“I made a tourniquet from my belt and put it around my leg.”
Orr said he was trapped for about 45 minutes before someone found him and alerted emergency services.
The Greenlea Rescue Helicopter crew arrived and Critical Care Flight Paramedic (CCFP) Rob, got to work to replace Orr’s belt with a medical grade tourniquet, IV line of fluids for the blood loss, monitored his vital signs and gave medication to stop major bleeding.
Orr’s extraction “was also a challenge” as Fire and Emergency New Zealand crews deployed specialist airbags to remove the loader.
Rob worked quickly to try and save Orr’s limb which had multiple bone breaks and “huge” wounds. In coordination with the Waikato Westpac Rescue Helicopter, he was then transported to Waikato Hospital for emergency surgery from Taupō.
Orr now lives with a prosthetic leg but said it hasn’t stopped him from living his life.
He’s a helicopter pilot himself and was out of action for a whole year after the incident.
He recently completed his first successful pilot season launching Kaimanawa Descent, the North Island’s first heli-biking trail on private land.
“It was a bit hard and took me a while to adapt and get used to the leg, but it hasn’t changed me too much and doesn’t stop me from doing much.
“It hasn’t stopped me from doing anything I want to or used to do. I was always keen to get back into the pilot season, and get back to doing what I love.”
Orr acknowledged the crucial role that the rescue helicopters played in saving his life that fateful day. Without their swift response, life-saving skills, and medical treatment both on-site and in the air, his story could have had a very different outcome.
To ensure the rescue helicopter remains available in moments of crisis, the Greenlea Foundation Trust is matching every dollar donated up to $300,000 during the Greenlea Challenge to Lift Appeal.
