NANAIMO -- A serious accident involving a motorcyclist in Nanaimo on Monday could have been fatal if it wasn’t for the quick actions of an off-duty nurse.
Nanaimo-resident Nathaniel Olson was out for a ride with his wife (who was on separate motorcycle) on Hammond Bay Road Monday afternoon when he was struck by a vehicle turning left in front of him.
His brother says the impact was so severe that it severed his femoral artery in his left leg and he was bleeding to death.
That’s when several off-duty nurses converged on the scene, and it was one nurse in particular, Olson’s brother says, who used someone’s Harley Davidson belt to stop the bleeding.
“She went down into the bush where he was at and put a tourniquet on his leg and saved his life right there,” says Jeremy Olson.
Jeremy credits that nurse for being a hero and going above and beyond the call of duty to save his brother’s life.
“It almost brought me tears,“ he adds. “She takes that moment to do her rightful duty and save a guy’s life on the side of the road.”
Nathaniel was rushed to Nanaimo Regional General Hospital to stabilize his leg before being airlifted to Victoria General Hospital, where the limb had to be amputated.
“They tried everything they could to try and save it below the knee, but unfortunately he had to lose it all the way above the knee,” says Jeremy.
Jeremy says his brother is showing no signs of head or spinal injury, but still has a long road to recovery.
With the warm weather, more motorcycles are on the road and Nathaniel’s brother is pleading with drivers to look out for all vehicles, big and small.
“It just takes a couple seconds to change somebody’s life,” says Jeremy.
A GoFundMe page and a Facebook group have been created to help with Nathaniel’s recovery.
