Daniel James Evans

I Dedicate this site to my wonderful son, Daniel James Evans, who was tragically taken away from us
on the 9th December 2007, after being hit by a red Renault Megane on the 3rd December 2007 on
Statford Avenue, Grangetown, Sunderland.

The first we heard about Daniel's accident was at 3.50pm, when the Hendon Task Force knocked on my
ex-husband John's door, and told him that Daniel had been knocked over by a car, but not to worry as
his injuries were minor, and that the car had just clipped his leg! John send our daughter Nikita to
fetch me as we only live 4 doors apart. I ran down to see what had happened and was told the same
thing, Daniel was not seriously hurt.

The police were going to take us to the scene of the accident, so I sent Nikita up to stop with her
stepdad Davey. The despatcher advised the police that the ambulance had been and left with Daniel,
so it was arrainged to take us straight to Sunderland Royal Hospital. So we went in the police van,
and en-route to the hospital the despatcher told the police that the ambulance was just attending as
we were travelling. I was confused, but relived as the police were still stating that Daniel would
be ok.

John and I were dropped off at the hospital, and we sat in the waiting room waiting for Daniel to
arrive. It seemed like and eternity before John went for some air and noticed the ambulance arrive.
I ran out and looked for Daniel in the back of the ambulance, I called his name, but got no
response. The paramedic advised us to go and book him in, so we did as we were told. And we were
taken into a quiet waiting room, where we waited for information on Daniel's condition.

When the doctor finally arrived she told us that Daniel had suffered a head injury and that he may
have brain damage, and that he would be taken for a scan to see what the damage was. We were in
total shock, how could this have gone from a hurt leg to a head injury? And so we waited.

Daniel had his scan at 6.00pm that evening, and we waited on the news. Again the doctor came in and
told us that Daniel's injury was severe and that he had vomited in the ambulance on the way to the
hospital, and that it wasn't a good sign. She told us that Daniel was going to be transfered to
Newcastle General Hospital, and that he needed immediate surgery. We rang to inform family members
and John's sister June and her husband Billy came straight to the hospital to support us.

We were allowed to see Daniel as they were waiting for the ambulance to arrive to take him to NGH,
and we went into the resus room. Daniel lay on a bed with drips and tubes all over, I stroked his
head and spoke to him and told him we were there and we would see him when he got to Newcastle. I
was terrified, and horrified to see my beautiful son like that. The nurses were doing checks on him
when I heard one of them say to the doctor that Daniel's eyes were not responsive. We were ushered
out of the room and told that Daniel's chances of survival was in doubt.


Daniel was taken to NGH at around 7.00pm, he was taken under police escort as time was of the
essence. We followed him through, all the time I was thinking that now he was in a hospital with the
proper equipment and doctors to treat him Daniel would be fine now. Again we were taken to a small
quiet room where we again waited for news on Daniel.

Daniel was in surgery for 6 hours and after surgery he was taken into intensive care. A consultant
came in and told us that Daniel had suffered a massive head injury and that he was unlikey to
survive....My world shattered. I couldn't think of loosing Daniel, he was my only son. He had only
turned 14 a couple of weeks before, and we had just celebrated my birthday two days before the
accident, Daniel had made me cakes. This was wrong! Very wrong.

For the next six painful days we watched and waited for any small sign that Daniel was going to pull
through, we played him his favourite music and talked to him. And he was visited by all his loving
family, even one of Daniel's primary school teachers came to visit him twice. I thought that knowing
how much he was loved Daniel would fight and pull through, and prove them all wrong. What I didn't
realise was that Daniel couldn't fight anymore.

Daniel was taken for a couple more scans during that time, and each time we were told that Daniel
was not going to make it. We were told by the doctor that Daniel was under sedation and that on the
8th Dec they were going to stop the sedetive and see if Daniel responded. At 10.00 that morning the
sedation was stopped and we waited to see if anything changed. We were told that the nurses were
keeping an eye on the pressure in Daniel's brain, and that so far the pressure remained low. This is
it I thought, he's going to come back.

I went home, and couldn't sleep, so I phoned the hospital at about 4.00am. I was told to come
straight to the hospital as the pressure in Daniel's brain had increased dramatically. I phoned
Daniel's godmother who raced through and took us to the hospital, we phoned other family members to
attend.

Daniel was taken for another scan on the morning of the 9th Dec. As the rest of the family waited in
the quiet room, John and I sat at Daniel's bedside waiting for news. Finally a consultant came in
and told us that Daniel was brain dead and that when we were ready Daniel's life support would be
turned off. At 12.15pm we made that decision, and the machines were switched off. We held Daniel's
hand as he slipped peacefully away, and at 12.35pm he was pronounced dead. My beautiful precious boy
was gone forever.....!

It hurt then and it hurts now, but I knew something was not right. Why had we been told that Daniel
had only minor injuries and had hurt his leg? Why were we told the ambulance had left with Daniel,
then when we were going to the hospital it was just arriving. I took it upon myself to find the
answers!

At first I thought the Rapid Response paramedic had advised the police that Daniel had only injured
his leg, and I worked out that the main ambulance had taken a long time to get to Daniel, when I
knew that is should have only taken the ambulance 8 MINUTES to get to him, that's the target time.
We were told that there would be an inquest into Daniel's death, so we decided to ask why? The
answers we got were shocking!

Daniel's inquest was held on 11th Dec 2008, a year and 2 days later. When the rapid response
paramedic took the stand, I have to admit I looked at her with disgust. I thought that she had
failed Daniel, in her diagnosis of him. I had even got copies of Daniel's medical records for the
time, so that I could figure out why she had done this. But when she took the stand I was shocked to
hear that My Daniel had been fairly concsious and that he had responded to her requests, and that he
had even tried to get up! From what I had been told and what I had read, Daniel had been
unresponsive. Then we were shocked to find out that she had radioed despatch 3 TIMES for a main
ambulance to arrive to transport Daniel to hospital. Even though a main ambulance is REQUIRED to
back up a rapid response paramedic IMMEDIATELY.

The first time an ambulance WAS NOT AVAILABLE!

The second time an ambulance had been despatched and then REDIRECTED TO ANOTHER EMERGENCY! Even
though it was travelling to a ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENT INVOLVING A CHILD PEDESTRIAN!!!!!

The third time an ambulance was despatched and arrived WITHIN 4 MINUTES of the Call.

So it emerged my precious Daniel had been lying in the road for HALF AN HOUR before a main ambulance
arrived.

The 999 call is recorded at 3.29pm and the main ambulance arrived at 4.01pm.

All the initial information recorded in Daniel's medical records is INCORRECT!

The next thing was we had received a copy of the post mortem examination and this contained the same
incorrect information.

So when the coroner asked the pathologist to give her evidence, I had hoped to ask if the delay had
affected Daniel's chances of survival. The coroner had already decided to ask this question, to
which the pathologist replied that she was not a head injury expert, and she only had the
information in her report, but she felt it would not have made a difference! I was gutted. I had
already sought the advice of solicitors who needed to know the answer to that very question, so that
we could make a claim against the ambulance service for failing Daniel and make them accountable.
The only way that could happen was if it would have made a difference to Daniel's survival. I was
heartbroken again, as I had made a promise to Daniel that I would fight for him, as no child should
be left at the roadside for half and hour after beeing hit by a car. But the coroner ruled that
Daniel would not have survived either way.

However I'm not giving up on making the ambulance service accountable for failing Daniel, and I
believe that Daniel would still be here if they had arrived on time. And something I want to know
now is did the pathologist give her opinion on the new and correct information given at the inquest,
or the incorrect information in her report?

So my fight for Daniel continues, as we have to live our lives without him. Daniel was a kind, sweet
boy with a heart of gold and a smile to match. He did not deserve to die like that, failed by the
authorities and those who were meant to save him.

Untill we meet again Daniel "Night, love you and sweet Dreams"

Love mam xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx