Hiker’s warning after his foot was left hanging off during hike
A hiker whose foot was left hanging off his leg when he slipped trying to get a better view of the mountainside in Dartmoor has encouraged trekkers to ‘be careful’ after spending a year learning to walk again.
George Bladon, a 55-year-old sales manager from Bristol, was hiking in Dartmoor, Devon, in April 2023 when he ‘wanted to get a bit higher’ to see the view.
The ensuing fall through a gully between two rocks left his bone sticking out from his leg – but George said it was lucky he only fell 10 feet, otherwise it could have been a lot more severe – as his ‘foot may have been ripped off’.
George was accompanied by two friends, as well as his cousin, Alex Larkin, 55, who rang 999 and shared their specific location via what3words, which uses unique three-word combinations to pinpoint positions on a map.
After being taken by air ambulance to Derriford Hospital, in Plymouth, George’s foot had to be reattached to his leg via screws, a metal rod, and skin and muscle grafts.
After two weeks he was discharged and moved in with Alex who looked after him for the next four months.
With physiotherapy and increased physical activity he is now fully recovered and plans to return to Dartmoor for a charity hike to raise funds for Devon Air Ambulance.
George said: ‘The bone was exposed and all I could feel was the breeze on my leg. 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.
‘It does highlight the risks of being out in the hills, and you’ve got to be careful at all times. I must admit, I kind of never really gave it much thought… it was a nice day, good weather conditions, and I still slipped.
‘If we didn’t have the what3words app we could’ve given the 999 operator coordinates from our map but it definitely sped things up, it might’ve taken a lot longer for them to come.’
In April 2023, George, his cousin and two friends planned on doing a circular tour of Dartmoor.
They began their hike in Meldon, and seven miles in, they approached Great Links Tor – but their trip soon took a turn for the worse.
George explained: ‘I climbed up to the first bit and we just sat there, it was lovely. But, as I usually do, I wanted to get up a bit higher… it looked quite difficult to get there because there was a gully separating two rocks.
‘I was like, I’ll be alright, I’ll be able to get over there. So I tried to pull myself up but then I slipped and fell back into this gully, I probably fell about 10 feet or something.
‘It doesn’t sound like much but I couldn’t see where I was landing, I sort of fell in between the rocks.’
George’s right leg took the full force of the fall, breaking his tibia and fibula.
‘I was lucky, as had I rolled over the ledge, my foot may have been ripped off as it was only held on by muscle and tendon,’ George said.
George’s cousin and their friends initially could not get a phone signal, so had to climb further up the mountain to call 999.
When they eventually got through, operators asked for their what3words location, and luckily Alex had the app on his phone because his daughters recommended it to him just three weeks previously.
While waiting for paramedics to arrive via helicopter, George remained ‘quite relaxed’ as he couldn’t feel his leg or foot.
After around half an hour, the air ambulance arrived and George was sedated, enabling paramedics to twist his leg into a position that could be stabilised by a boot for the journey to hospital.
‘The paramedic said to my cousin that my leg was as bad as it could get, the only thing going for me was that I had a pulse in my toe and I still had a nerve there,’ George said. ‘That’s why they could save my leg, otherwise it may not have been worth saving. ‘The break was really close to the nerve so I was really lucky.’
Doctors put his leg in plaster, and the following morning his leg was put into an external fixation device to keep the two fractured bones stabilised and aligned.
Five days later, George had surgery to reattach his foot to his leg, a rod inserted and screwed to his tibia, and a skin and a muscle graft to fix the damage on the open fracture.
He stayed in the hospital for another two weeks, until he could move using a Zimmer frame.
‘I just wanted to go home but the first time I tried walking I went all woozy and I just collapsed so I had to give it a couple of days to try again,’ George added.
Once he got out, he ended up staying with his cousin, Alex, for around four months, who cared for him and even had to clear bottles of urine from his room as he could not walk to the toilet.
After returning home and having regular physiotherapy sessions, George’s leg is fully functional and he regularly goes to the gym, takes spin classes and swims.
He has also got back hiking in the hills, visiting Brecon Beacons for the first time since the accident a few months ago.
George is planning on returning to Dartmoor for the first time since the accident by doing a charity walk along the Two Moors Way to help raise money for Devon Air Ambulance.
George explained: ‘It would be great to give something back to them because they were brilliant.’
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