‘They had to take the knee off’: Quick thinking and luck saved Thomas Orr’s life – but not his leg

As Thomas Orr lay trapped, his leg crushed beneath a seven tonne loader on a gravel road in the middle of nowhere, only one thought entered his mind – survival.

December 14, 2021 was a cold and rainy early summer’s day and could well have been Orr’s last day on Earth if it wasn’t for his quick thinking and a little bit of luck that ended up saving his life, but not his left leg.

Less than six months after his life changing accident, the 26-year-old chopper pilot from Taupō is philosophical about his future and said his road to recovery will be a long, frustrating journey but one he’s keen to tackle head on.

“I was bringing a loader back to Taupō on a transport trailer from our base at Poronui, something I’d done a thousand times before.

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“I was near the end of Taharua Rd, not far from where it turns onto State Highway 5, and it felt like the loader had shifted position, so I stopped to take a look at it.

“What caught me out was that the back left wheel was almost dead flat and when I turned the steering wheel it dragged the wheel off the trailer and the loader toppled off the trailer onto me.”

There he was, trapped, with no cell phone coverage on a rural road with little chance of passing traffic stopping to help save his life.

“I remember being on the ground, I was still inside the cab, but my left leg was outside crushed against the road.

“I had a bit of a panic for about 30 seconds getting used to the pain of it all.

“Then I saw the blood, pooling on the ground, it was coming out of my leg and I realised I could bleed out before anyone finds me.

“The first thing I thought was I needed to stop the bleeding, so I looked round the cab trying to find something.

“After a minute or so I remembered I was wearing my belt and cranked that up as hard as I could and just lay there.”

Not long after someone did turn up, much to Orr’s relief, and the welcome stranger raced to the main road to call for help.

One of those people was a nurse from Waikato Hospital who told Orr that if they moved the loader he would bleed out even faster, so they waited.

“The worst part about it wasn’t the pain, the pain sort of fills your whole body, the worst part was the feeling of being trapped, I couldn’t get out, I couldn’t move, I was just pinned.”

It took about half an hour for an ambulance to arrive from Taupō, and another 40 minutes before the fire service turned up to pull the loader off him.

Orr was flown to Waikato Hospital by rescue helicopter where surgeons tried to save the leg, but it was not to be.

“Unfortunately, because there was not enough tissue below the knee, they had to take the knee off as well, and that makes a massive difference.

“Below knee, you still have control of the leg, but in my case I’ve got about a quarter of my thigh gone.”

But Orr is made of tough stuff and didn’t want to be in hospital over Christmas, so just eight days later he was discharged and life without his left leg began at home in a wheelchair.

It took about three months before he was fitted with his first prosthetic leg. He travels to the Tauranga limb centre a couple of times a week for physiotherapy and training.

“I only have a little bit of muscle left to run the leg – it’s about 75 to 80% less efficient than a normal leg, so I need a serious amount of strength in the stump to walk – that’s the battle at the moment.”

But it’s a battle he’s prepared for, he knows his recovery will take time and patience.

He said while he gave up rugby about four years ago – he played for the Waikato Chiefs Under-18 squad and semi-professionally for Waikato – his real passion is the outdoors, fly-fishing and hunting in the Kaimanawa Ranges, and flying helicopters for the family business Helisika.

About a month before his accident he had run his first marathon.

“The hardest thing is the loss of independence. I spent a lot of time fly-fishing and hunting, that’s going to be the most difficult to get back into, but I still think its doable.”

Orr is confident he’ll be back flying choppers next hunting season and has been for a few flights with an instructor already.

“It’s going to be a matter of the medication I’m taking because I can’t fly on that, it’s going to take time before I can come of the pain meds.

“It’s weird, there’s no pain at all in the stump, it’s now all phantom leg pain…the last thing my brain remembers of my leg is that extreme pain and there are still pain signals being sent from the limb that’s not there to my brain, it’s bizarre.

“I’ve always picked things up quickly and have been super active…but they told me this won’t be easy, and it’s been a major challenge.

“The last few months have been so hard mentally, thinking you are never going to get there.

“You think about everything you are never going to be able to do again – I’m going to miss out on so much – but I’m seeing people on the internet climbing to base camp on Mt Everest with these legs and think I can get to that point, at some stage.”

But life goes on, and Orr said he could not have done it without the support he’s received from his family, especially his mum and partner.

“They have been able to share the load – it’s been pretty hard on them too – but hopefully we’re moving out of home into a new house with my partner in the next few months.

“There’s lots to look forward to, getting back into flying will be the first one, then another few months before moving back into work, I guess you have to readjust what your hopes are.”

Orr’s positivity and tough, down to earth nature have served him well, and he said that talking about the accident and his lost leg had been part of the healing process.

“I don’t feel self-conscious, I thought I would, but it is what it is. It helps me to talk about it rather than trying to act like it never happened.”