'Convinced I was dying' - Cumbrian brewery blast victim reunited with doctor
A MAN who sustained life-threatening injuries in a Workington brewery explosion last year has been reunited with the doctor who saved him.
Leigh Taylor, a 44-year old from Seaton, was working on May 13, 2024, when he was engulfed by a fireball and badly burned in a blast.
Recalling the incident, Mr Taylor said: "I remember being blown across the room and looking at it in disbelief.
"My ears were ringing, and smoke was billowing, and then I just crawled out of the rubble.
"I could see my hands were red raw, like slabs of meat with all the skin hanging off."
North West Ambulance Service, Cumbria Police, and Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service attended the scene, in addition to teams from the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) and North West Air Ambulance Charity.
Mr Taylor said: "I was convinced I was dying, and that's what I was expecting, to die, because the last thing I remember was them cutting the sleeve off my coat, and then I woke up five weeks later."
He was put into a medically induced coma by the doctor and paramedic team from GNAAS and airlifted to Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) in Newcastle.
Leigh Taylor in hospital a few weeks after the blast (Image: Supplied) The father-of-two underwent skin grafts after sustaining 40 per cent burns to his face, legs, and hands, and he also suffered a cardiac arrest while in a coma.
Mr Taylor spent a total of nine weeks in hospital and was full of praise for the staff at the RVI who remarked that his recovery has been faster compared to other people of a similar age with similar injuries.
He said: "The care at Newcastle's RVI was unbelievable, they were just fantastic.
"My burns nurse always tells people at the hospital that I'm not your average burn survivor, which makes me quite proud."
Mr Taylor still suffers from a lung inhalation injury, and despite doctors initially telling him it would be at least three months before he could resume climbing the fells, he defied those odds by reaching his first peak 37 days after leaving hospital.
Leigh Taylor with the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) helicopter (Image: Supplied) He said: "The incident has given me a new perspective on life and it's changed me as a person.
"It's kind of forced me on this journey of self-reflection and healing."
Less than a year after the incident, Mr Taylor visited GNAAS' base in Langwathby to meet doctor Patrick Duncan, one of the medics who treated him on scene.
He also brought his dog Taco, a Cocker Spaniel cross Kelpie, who was in the same building at the time of the explosion, but in a different room.
He said: "She normally roamed around wherever I went, but that day for some reason I locked her in the office, so she wasn't by my side when it happened.
"She's a lucky girl."
During Mr Taylor's visit to GNAAS' base, he had the opportunity to discuss his incident with Dr Duncan and find out more information about what happened in the aftermath.
Dr Duncan said: "I've attended many incidents since joining GNAAS, but Leigh's case was certainly a memorable one.
"Considering it's been less than a year since the incident, Leigh looks really well compared to when we last saw him, and it was a pleasure to meet him again and find out how he's getting on."
Mr Taylor added: "Patrick and the rest of the team at GNAAS were the first link in the chain that saved my life that day.
"They stabilised me on scene and flew me quickly to the RVI in Newcastle which gave me the best possible chance of survival.
"The job they do is really admirable and I have a lot of respect for them.
"You never think you'll need GNAAS, but when you do, you'll be grateful that this service exists."
According to GNAAS, it needs to raise £9.3m a year to remain operational.
The charity recently launched an appeal to help them raise these funds.
Find out more about the appeal on their website at gna.as/appeal2025.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Hamilton Spectator
10 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Saint Andrews doctor leans on collaborative model to move patients off waitlist
A Saint Andrews-based doctor has expanded her practice to include more health professionals in an effort to get more people in the community off the waitlist for primary care. Dr. Julie Levesque-Taylor operates out of the Wellness Centre in Saint Andrews – a clinic provided by the Town of Saint Andrews as part of an effort to provide accessible healthcare to residents. She moved from Manitoba about four years ago and said she noticed that many doctors were operating alone – meaning there is little room to see patients in a timely fashion or take on more patients over time. There are roughly 18,000 people in Zone 2 waiting to be matched with a primary care provider – which encompasses southwestern New Brunswick, according to Public Health. 'What it means is that you can't take on as many people because there's only so many hours and minutes in the day to be able to do all that work,' she said in an interview with CHCO-TV. Levesque-Taylor said it usually results in shorter visits or you don't get as in-depth an assessment. 'I noticed when I first got here that it's just not sustainable, or it's sustainable on a very small scale,' she said. 'We took on patients, and people came in, they called, they begged, they pleaded, (and) our staff listened … and then there came the heartbreaking moment where we have to start saying no.' So, Levesque-Taylor leaned into a model with proven success in Manitoba. She got funding through Family Medicine New Brunswick (FMNB), a program administered by the New Brunswick Medical Society (NBMS). 'The goal is to encourage physicians like myself to build primary care teams,' she said. New Brunswick Health Minister Dr. John Dornan said the FMNB was initiated several years ago, but didn't get much uptake so some adjustments were made. 'The practice is capitated, which means that the physician gets a certain amount of money for every patient that they take on and then there is monies that are applied or given to the physicians to hire additional healthcare staff, for example a nurse practitioner or nurse,' he said in an interview with The Courier. He said this is similar to the collaborative care model the government is expanding across the province, with the commitment for 30 clinics by 2030. Two clinics have been committed to St. Stephen in 2025 and Blacks Harbour in 2026. He explained collaborative care clinics must have digitized patient records, they must be dealing with a certain number of patients and seeing them within a reasonable amount of time. All things Levesque-Taylor's expanded model checks off the list. 'So, we know that when people work collaboratively, they are way more able to see more patients,' Dornan said, adding they ideally want clinics within a certain geographical area to see residents who live there. Levesque-Taylor said she aims to have everyone with the postal code beginning with E5B — within Saint Andrews — taken off the list. 'We've already started making phone calls, and we hope to take on an extra 400 patients,' she said. Dornan said the department is negotiating the details to help fund the clinic as a collaborative care clinic, adding it doesn't change the commitment it has made to the two other regions in Charlotte County. In March, Dornan said St. Stephen would have a collaborative care clinic by the end of the year. 'St. Stephen is one of those … We have already signed contracts with groups of people who are putting together these collaborative care clinics, so while not everyone has a clinic promised in the next year, yours is one of them,' he said in the legislative assembly in March. He said many people end up in the emergency departments of the Charlotte County and Saint John hospitals due to the lack of accessible primary care – and the work being undertaken by Levesque-Taylor is part of the overall solution. Ultimately, she hopes to recruit more doctors to Charlotte County. 'You should be able to go to your family health team home and to be able to have it planned in such a way that when the main doctor is away, there's someone there covering, and you can see your doctor,' she said. 'You don't have to go to the emergency room unless it's a life-or-limb.' The New Brunswick Medical Society (NBMS) said this new collaborative model is how physicians are being trained – and brings advantages for both patients and health care providers. 'Many of the existing team-based clinics in our province today exist because of innovative physicians, like Dr. Levesque Taylor, who have invested their own resources and time to build high-performing teams to offer the best care possible to their patients,' said NBMS president Dr. Lise Babin. She said she hopes the department will continue the investment in these clinical leaders. 'This is the quickest and most effective way to respond to our current access challenges, and if done right, we can achieve much more than 30 clinics in the coming years,' she said. — with files from Vicki Hogarth. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Yahoo
Here are your finalists for the Pride of Cumbria 2025 Caring for the Community Award
The Pride of Cumbria 2025 Caring for the Community Award honours individuals who provide exceptional care and support in the home or workplace. Nominees for the award 'exemplify compassion, empathy, and dedication' in their Graham- The Lookout Community Hub Hayley Graham (Image: Supplied) Hayley is a manager of the lookout community hub in Raffles, Carlisle. Her nominator said: "She has put the community at the forefront of everything she does, she advocates for those who don't always feel they have a voice. "Through all of this she has lost three close loved ones in the space of 18 months and seen herself go from the most outgoing person to someone who battled mental health everyday just to survive. "But she made a promise to herself and more importantly her four children to not let this consume her, and after months of work and putting herself first she's coming out the other end." Megan Stephenson Megan Stephenson (Image: Supplied) Megan is a community resuscitation officer in the community for the North West Ambulance Service. She took on the role on a secondment, but has since raised over £20k for the NWAS charity reinstating over 85 community defibs in the most rural areas. Her nominator said: "She never has a day off even if we are out on a walk she will still check if she sees a defib to check it's in working order. "She is professional, honest but also a mum she never stops she takes her job so seriously and never takes the praise she truly deserves." Zian Haughin Zian Haughin (Image: Supplied) Zian Haughin is a 'true beacon of compassion and support' within the Barrow community, through her work at Family Action. Her nominator said: "Whether she is supporting breastfeeding journeys, providing a listening ear to struggling mothers, or helping families navigate the challenges of mental health, Zian's dedication is extraordinary. "Zian's impact extends far beyond her work—she is a true advocate, an inspiration, and a pillar of strength for those who need it most."
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Yahoo
Owensboro's Big Daddy's BBQ sauce hits Kroger shelves
OWENSBORO, Ky. (WEHT) — One of Owensboro's own has a barbeque sauce hitting shelves at Kroger. Joshua Taylor created Big Daddy's BBQ sauce that is now available in 50 of this, after recovering from a major health battle. Big Daddy's BBQ sauce has won several awards and landed the opportunity through a Kroger food show in Louisville; Behind the bottle is a comeback story that may be as powerful as the flavor. The accomplishment comes after a life-threatening fight for Taylor that lasted several years. 'I've been disabled since 2008. I needed a heart transplant. I was at home [and] started watching BBQ Pitmasters on tv. Figured, I better just try it,' says Taylor entered his first competition in 2011, and he and his wife at one point opened a physical location for takeout downtown. In 2018, the very thing that had unexpectedly led him to his passion took a turn for the worse. 'I got put in the hospital. The right side of my heart started feeling really, really bad. I ended up with a device called a Left Ventricular Assisted Device (LVAD). It left me in a coma. I was in the hospital for 188 days,' says Taylor. With his wife by his side, Taylor underwent a successful heart and kidney transplant two years later. He had to relearn how to do basic things again like walk, but that didn't stop people from wondering how they could get their hands on his barbeque again. He says getting his sauce on shelves helps him continue to serve the people of Owensboro. 'The fact that I can think that somebody is going to top me, it really fuels my fire. [I get] the same thing when it comes to the barbecue sauce,' says Taylor. The pair spent months trading samples back and forth with the manufacturer until it was right. 'We were just searching. We were like a dog sniffing for like a scent. My wife found [the sauce on shelves]…so happy and we were taking pictures. We were just like doing these poses stuff,' says Taylor.'It's so exciting that we still don't know all the all the stores that they're in in Kentucky, but just being able to see our product on the shelf is unbelievable. Even if life isn't going your way, don't give up. Keep the dream alive,' says Jill Taylor, his wife. People in Owensboro can find Taylor's sauce at the Frederica Street and Parrish Avenue Kroger locations. For the Taylors, every bottle represents more than just a labor of love, but a second chance at life. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.