A man from Bristol, UK has revealed gruesome details of a horrifying experience hiking on Dartmoor, which left his foot hanging off his leg.
George Bladon, a 55-year-old sales manager from Bristol, has spent a year learning
to walk again, and hopes that his story will act as a warning to others hikers to “be careful at all times”. And all he was trying to do was find a better view.
Bladon was hiking in Dartmoor, Devon, in April 2023 with two friends and his cousin, Alex Larkin, 55, when he decided “to get up a bit higher” for a better vantage point from which to admire Dartmoor’s rugged beauty.
But then Bladon fell 10 feet through a gully between two rocks, smashing his leg. He says he could see his bone sticking out of his leg.
"The bone was exposed and all I could feel was the breeze on my leg,” he told PA Real Life. “It was really surreal... my friend had to wipe dirt off my bone, and there was blood everywhere, but I just couldn't feel it.”
He actually feels lucky that he hadn’t fallen further as his “foot may have been ripped off”.
His friends called emergency services, using what3words to pinpoint their location. Bladon was helicoptered to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth where his foot was reattached to his leg using screws and a metal rod and he also had to undergo skin and muscle grafts.
After two weeks, he was discharged and moved in with cousin Alex to recuperate for the next four months. Over a year and after extensive physiotherapy he has fully recovered and is planning charity hike in Devon to raise funds for Devon Air Ambulance.
"It does highlight the risks of being out in the hills, and you've got to be careful at all times,” warns Bladon. “I must admit, I kind of never really gave it much thought... it was a nice day, good weather conditions, and I still slipped.”
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