House 'like murder scene': Auckland man credits rescuer with saving his life after trip

Monday, 9 April 2018

It has taken Paul Halliday a year to track down the man who saved his life.

Aucklander Paul Halliday has spent a year tracking down the man who saved his life after he fell on a giant vase.

The last time St John ambulance officer Tim Naylor saw Halliday, he was leaning semi-conscious over a bathtub full of blood, with a stocking tied around his arm.

In a jovial, yet emotional, reunion the two men chuckled over the outstanding events of March 25.

Halliday is still trying to regain movement in his left arm, after his sliced the tendons and nerves during a home fall.

North Shore resident Halliday was at a friend's house when he fell down a step onto a large free-standing glass vase, sustaining an approx 20 centimetre laceration to his left forearm.

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St John Ambulance Officer Tim Naylor arrived at the scene to find Paul semi-conscious over a bathtub filled with blood and a stocking tied around his arm.

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Halliday wrapped a stocking around his arm as a makeshift tourniquet, while his friend called 111.

'The panic was right here in me, the house looked like a murder scene,' Halliday said.

'There was blood everywhere - bath was full of it, hallway was full of it, and then in walks Tim saying, 'Hi, I'm Tim'. After that, I knew I was going to be okay.'

Naylor, working with officer Alice Tolich, decided to apply a combat action tourniquet to the upper arm to stop the bleeding before transporting Halliday to hospital.

Halliday said he wanted an opportunity to thank Naylor.

'You get to build a relationship with your nurses and doctors, but Johnny-on-the-spot you never get to say thanks to,' he said.

Naylor said the reunion meant a lot to him, too, because he didn't often get to find out what happened to patients.

One year on, Halliday was still struggling to get full movement back in his arm. He was no longer able to work as a builder.

The glass wedged itself from his wrist to above his elbow, severing tendons, nerves and arteries.

Haliday said it was pretty ironic that, from a lifetime of being on building sites, up in rafters - he tripped in a house over a vase.

'It's an everyday injury that could happen to anyone,' Naylor agreed.

St John is currently fundraising as part of its 'Heart of Gold' Annual Appeal.

Chief executive Peter Bradley said many New Zealanders still don't know that St John is a charity and that it needed to raise more than 25 per cent of its annual operating budget every year. Donations to heartofgold.org.nz.