20 Sep 2024
An expert often seen on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow, Mark Smith, has said London’s Air Ambulance Charity played a pivotal role in the journey that led to his career, after the service attended to him in 2003.
On 11 May 2003, Mark was crossing the road in Leytonstone when he was hit by a car travelling at 40mph.
“I went through the windscreen face first,” said Mark.
“I remember someone asking me my name while I lay on the floor and someone telling me a helicopter was on its way. Then nothing after that.”
Mark had broken both of his eye sockets, his cheekbones, his nose, his left arm and multiple ribs on his lefthand side. There was also a deep laceration to his scalp. He was badly injured and needed immediate medical attention.
On their arrival at the scene, London’s Air Ambulance’s advanced trauma team found Mark already being attended to by the London Ambulance Service (LAS) paramedics as well as the police. They were preparing to lift him off the road and onto a trolley bed and had already managed to gain intravenous access and administer oxygen. On assessment, the team suspected that Mark may have sustained a traumatic brain injury as well as possible fractures to his ribs and arm. The team gave Mark some painkillers and placed his arm in a box-splint before electing to take him to the nearest major trauma centre by air.
While Mark was flown to The Royal London Hospital – a rare occurrence as our crew’s main role is to bring the hospital to the patient – Mark’s wife was collected by the police and brought to the hospital.
“When I first woke up, I remember hearing my mother, my sister-in-law and my neighbour talking,” said Mark. “I thought I was at a very strange party!”
After a few days in hospital, Mark was allowed to return home, with the need for someone to be with him 24/7 to care for him.
“I still don’t think I truly understood what had happened. We made a downstairs room into my bedroom and friends and family would constantly visit,” said Mark. “I kept finding it really strange that these people were at the end of my bed!
“About a week after I started to process what had happened and why I was there. It was then I accepted the bed rest and focused on recovering.
“I remember looking out the window and finding the trees and leaves moving in the wind so wonderful. I was aware that for a moment there, my future wasn’t looking too good. When you’re celebrating the fact you’re still here, the world around you changes.
“Little things don’t phase me anymore – the small things in life that used to annoy me, I don’t get annoyed anymore.”
Nowadays, Mark’s life is very different to how it was in 2003. After securing his dream job as Curator of the Royal Artillery Museum and there successfully hosting some television programmes, Mark was scouted to be the Antiques Roadshow’s new militaria man in 2014. This year will be his 10th year filming on the famous BBC show.
“It is thanks to my accident and London’s Air Ambulance Charity that I am on the television.
“Without that day, I never would have applied for the job that led to that opportunity.
“My accident and my survival has changed my mindset. In this new world of mine with my new way of thinking, I believe anything can happen.”
Mark also frequently delivers talks to Freemason’s lodges, raising money for charities. “Overall I’ve raised over £100,000. That also wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been hit by a car and subsequently attended to.
“London’s Air Ambulance Charity is a service you don’t think about until someone in your world is horribly affected. But it’s so important. I would do whatever I could for the charity.”