Disaster struck shortly after 16-year-old Draidyn Wollmann began his first summer job riding a lawnmower for his hometown municipality.

Suddenly, an abrupt turn threw him from his seat and the machine ran him over, dragged him and then stopped when the cutting deck dropped onto his torso and a spinning blade embedded into his chest.

Wollmann lay conscious but trapped for about an hour.

“In that hour, I was figuring out what was going on, and then, well, I was panicking a bit,” he recalled. “It was terrifying. I couldn’t see. I was terrified as hell.”

Eventually, he was found by his manager, who immediately called 911, initiating an automatic dispatch from STARS. Before launching, our crew made sure to load in the cooler of blood they had at the ready.

STARS flight nurse Bailey Sinclair was on her first solo shift with STARS after months of intense training.

“Our training is very intense, very thorough, and we practice and practice and practice, and that’s why we’re good at what we do.” She said, “That’s why we can turn it on when somebody needs it the most.”

At this point Wollmann was fading quickly. STARS flight paramedic Glen Pilon, knew time was running out.

“He had what we call agonal breaths, like very difficult breathing,” said Pilon. “And from my 30 years of experience, when somebody is trapped like that you know that they only have about 10 minutes left to live.”

But they weren’t about to give up. As pilots Yves Bolduc and Alex Parra helped bring supplies from the helicopter, Sinclair and Pilon set to work.

They immediately began infusing a unit of blood, prepared a video laryngoscope and set up to intubate. When ready, firefighters lifted the mower and removed the blade as Pilon and Sinclair completed the intubation and moved Wollmann into the helicopter, where a second unit of blood was started.

On the 17-minute flight back to the hospital, Pilon manually squeezed a breathing bag while simultaneously performing an ultrasound to look for other concerns. Meanwhile, Sinclair was administering medications and communicating with the receiving hospital.

Wollmann was cared for at his local children’s hospital by a fantastic team. The wound in his chest had somehow missed damaging any vital organs, but his left arm had to be amputated at the elbow. He also suffered a significant blood blister on his heel from being dragged by the mower.

Wollmann’s mom, Christine said “If it wasn’t for STARS, Draidyn wouldn’t be alive. I know that for a fact. STARS saved his life.”

Wollmann, a quiet kid with a big heart, was fitted with a prosthetic arm and released from hospital after several weeks, beginning his recovery surrounded by family and community. He was grateful for his second chance and for his STARS crew.

“They did a good job,” he smiled. “Very good crew members; very well trained. I will say 10 out of 10. Very good people, very good job.”