Couple thank rescuers after climbing fall recovery

A man and his partner have thanked mountain rescuers who helped to save him after he fell 10m (32.8ft) and landed on his head while climbing.

Aron Thomas, 32, sustained a serious head injury in the Horseshoe Quarry area of Stoney Middleton, in the Peak District, Derbyshire, on 2 October last year.

His family were told to prepare for the worst and he was put in an induced coma, but two weeks later he began to wake up. He returned to work as a surgeon in April.

As part of a Countryfile episode about the Peak District on Sunday, marking 75 years since a law was passed to create national parks, Dr Thomas, from Derbyshire, met one of the team from Edale Mountain Rescue who helped him.

His partner Nicola Simpson, 35, who was with him when he fell, told Countryfile he was about 10 metres off the floor, and had reached to clip into a bolt when he slipped.

Dr Simpson, who is an anaesthetist, added: "Because he landed on his head, I heard the helmet hit the buttress. I knew it was bad immediately."

He was unresponsive, but Dr Simpson was unable to find her phone and had to leave to get help.

She said: "I just remember saying I loved him, gave him a kiss and ran to the road.

"Leaving him, I thought that would be the last time I saw him alive."

She flagged someone down, and ran back to her partner while on the phone to 999.

About 25 minutes after calling, Dr Simpson said: "There was all of a sudden, a sea of people in red and lots of people and emergency services."

Volunteer rescuer Suzie Imber was the closest to the scene and attended. They were all reunited on Countryfile.

"Suzie is the only person I remember from the day... I remember her trying to keep me calm and reassure me," Dr Simpson said.

Once Dr Thomas was stabilised, he was airlifted to Sheffield Northern General Hospital.

His family were told to prepare for the worst, and he was put in an induced coma.

However, after two weeks he started to wake, and two months later he learned to walk and talk again.

Dr Thomas said: "Without mountain rescue, without air ambulance, without the emergency services as a whole, I would possibly still be there and certainly would not have the opportunity to recover the way I did."

Since returning to work, he is operating, doing clinics, and doing everything he used to, he said.

He thanked Prof Imber, who, as her day job, is a professor of space physics, and the wider team, who are all volunteers and rely on donations.

The couple, from South Normanton, got engaged in March, and are due to get married in December next year.

They are expecting a baby boy in March.

"So much to be thankful of - so much to celebrate," Dr Thomas said.

His fiancée added: "A year ago, if someone told me this is where we would be, we would have never have believed them. We're incredibly lucky."

Follow BBC Derby on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected] or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.