Nurse walked nine miles in the snow to save my life
Anna Davis13.02.09
A nurse walked nine miles through deep snow two days in a row to save the life of a patient who required kidney dialysis and was trapped at home.
Renal nurse Debbie Noble, 49, made the four-hour round trip to help Steph Crawford fearing she could die without the treatment.
Mrs Crawford, 45, from Ewell, suffers from kidney failure. She could not drive to her usual dialysis centre in Kingston, and ambulances could not reach her as roads were blocked by snow.
Without dialysis, Mrs Crawford becomes increasingly breathless as fluid builds up around her lungs, which could ultimately be fatal.
The mother-of-two said: "What she did was amazing. She says it is just her job but not many people would have got hiking boots and waterproof trousers on and gone out in 14 inches of snow."
Mrs Noble had previously been working with Mrs Crawford to help her use a dialysis machine in her own home but the machinery was not ready to be used on the day of the snow.
Mrs Noble walked four-and-a-half miles from her home in Ashtead to Ewell to install the machine properly and begin treating Mrs Crawford at home.
She then made the same trip the next day to help Mrs Crawford with her treatment.
Mrs Crawford said: "When I couldn't get to the dialysis unit, I thought I was going to have to be rescued by a helicopter because I would be so ill.
"I tried to work the machine myself but it wouldn't. When I spoke to Debbie on the phone she told me not to panic and said she was on her way over."
When Mrs Noble arrived, she rang technicians at Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, where she has been based for four years, who helped her to get the machine running.
Mrs Crawford added: "After she got the machine working she then walked all the way home - and then did it all again the next day.
"The fact is without dialysis I would have died. I need dialysis at least three times a week, and by the second day, I would have been in real trouble."
Mrs Noble, who wasn't scheduled to work on the first day she made her long walk in the snow, said: "Everyone at the trust worked hard over those two days.
"Lots of people went above and beyond to take care of the people who needed it. Everyone's been mucking in."
She added: "At work you sometimes get a 'yes' moment when something works. Walking home in the snow with the moon shining was one of those moments that you store up for a rainy day."
Mrs Crawford said: "There aren't enough words to say how thankful I am to her. She is literally a life saver."
