A hiker who suffered serious injuries and had to have his leg re-attached after plunging 200ft from a rock formation has astounded medics by taking his first steps. Avid walker and ex-restaurant business manager Imran Choudhury, from Oldham, was out hiking alone near Dove Stone, in the Peak District, last February as part of his training to climb Mount Kilimanjaro later that year.
During the walk, he asked a couple of ramblers to take a photo of him on a rock formation but as he was posing for the shot, he fainted and fell 60m onto the scrubland below. The fall left him with serious injuries including a fractured skull while his right leg was left hanging on by just its skin.
However, after a 14-month rehabilitation process, Mr Choudhury has released new footage praising medical teams as he took his first unaided steps since the accident. He said: “It’s just great because that was what I have been working for over the last 14 months. I’ve been working really hard, extremely hard, and it was amazing.
READ MORE: Dramatic rescue of restaurant manager who fell 200ft near Dove Stone shown on BBC's Close Calls
“They didn’t think I was going to make it because I was so critical. I fell so far down, then I rolled down so much, and was stuck in the middle of the valley. They all thought that I was going to die until I arrived at the hospital, and that was the moment they thought I might actually survive.”
Immediately after the fall, the two ramblers called the emergency services while another two passing walkers also rushed down to help him. And with the assistance of the Coast Guard, Air Ambulance and Mountain Rescue, Imran arrived at a nearby hospital around three hours later and was in a coma for around three weeks.
He had suffered fractures to his skull, shoulder blade, foot and spine - but one of his worst injuries was a break just below his right leg. Imran said: “They said they didn’t think they would be able to save my right leg, but luckily, they managed to do it.
"Just below my knee joint, it was almost amputated – it was joined by a bit of skin – and they weren’t really sure what was going on. In the end, they had to saw away most of the bone, just below my knee."
Despite the long road to recovery Mr Choudhury still faces, he says he has been overwhelmed by the support of doctors and nurses at his hospital. He said: “A big thanks to our NHS, the pride of Britain, and of course, the Sheffield Northern General Hospital for everything.
"I can't really thank you enough, but that's the least I can do.”
