A NOTTINGHAM roofer who fell 35ft and landed on concrete has walked again despite extensive serious injuries.

Simon Bell, 58, from Burton Joyce, was working on a roof in May 2023 when he fell from the two-storey building.

Simon suffered a brain injury, internal bleeding and damage to his internal organs, and had fractured his shoulder and broken all of his ribs on the right-hand side.

He has thanked the Nottingham University Hospital (NUH) teams who nursed him back to health and taught him to walk again.

Roofer Walks Again

Simon explained that he doesn’t remember the accident or his first six weeks in hospital.

He said: “I’ve been told that the customer came out to bring me a drink and found me on the ground, so they called for an ambulance. The air ambulance came out to me as well.

“I was in intensive care at QMC for six weeks, and my body was in shutdown. I wasn’t good – they had to remove my spleen, my liver and kidneys were damaged, and they kept pumping blood out of my lungs.

“I was in quite a mess.”

After five weeks in intensive care and six weeks on the major trauma ward, Simon was transferred to a rehabilitation unit. Here he was helped to recover by a the specialist team of nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists and other healthcare professionals based there.

Simon’s wife of 23 years, Jo, explained that moving from the hospital setting to the rehabilitation unit was a real change.

She said: “Until then, the majority of the focus had been nursing and medical, but here rehabilitation became the focus and medicine faded into the background, which is what Simon needed.

“Simon’s care since the accident has been fantastic, and the rehab staff have been excellent.”

Way Back to Independence

Thanks to the dedication of all the staff and Simon’s determination and positive mindset, after just five weeks, Simon was out of a wheelchair and on his way back to independence.

He said: “To start with, I had very little movement in my right-hand side – I could only move my fingers. When I arrived at Linden Lodge [the rehab unit] I couldn’t shower on my own, walk on my own and was in a wheelchair.

“I wanted to be better as soon as possible, and was previously a fit and active person, so if anyone dropped out of a physio session or if any of the Linden Lodge team had spare time to fit me in, I was in the gym. I always felt better after exercise and was motivated to push myself to do a bit more.

“I found that the harder you work at it all, the harder they will work with you.”

Brain Injury

In addition to working on physical rehabilitation, the psychologists worked with Simon regularly to assess his brain injury. He was set simple maths tests and speed exercises, and gradually he began to recover.

In September, Simon was finally allowed to return home to his wife and daughter, but it’s been a big adjustment for them all. There is still a long road to recovery with support through outpatient rehabilitation provided.

He said: “My brain struggled to adjust, which is what happens with brain damage, so it was a big step coming home, but I was pleased to be back.

“I was also happy to see our cats and my Labrador Rufus again. I’m calling him my therapy dog now as he’s good for me because I have to get up every day to walk and feed him. I think he can sense I’m not how I used to be, so he’s much more gentle now.”

Return to Roofing

As for the future, Simon is building on his remarkable recovery and taking each day as it comes. He’s uncertain whether he will ever return to work.

He ends, “My family aren’t keen on me going back to roofing, but it’s all I’ve known for 30 years, so life will look a bit different in the future.”

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