wife of an elite "Red Devil" paratrooper has opened up about the horrific injuries her husband suffered in a speed flying accident.
Katy Crudgington, 32, said that she expected Lance Corporal Lee Crudgington, 38, to be dead after seeing him surrounded by medics in the French Alps.Speed flying is an extreme air sport that involves quickly descending from heights, such as mountains, with a small parachute.READ MORE: Elite 'Red Devil' Brit paratrooper seriously injured in horror high-speed flying accidentThe accident occurred two days into the couple's weekend holiday in French ski resort Morzine, which has a 1,000-metre (3,280 feet) altitude.
Lee had already done 30 rounds of speed flying in the days before the gruesome crash at around 10.30am on July 2.Speaking through tears outside Grenoble Hospital, where her husband remains in intensive care, Katy said: "It was horrific.
I was at the top of the mountain and one of Lee's friends phoned me."When I saw Lee the medics had him on a lot of drugs."I asked Lee if he could hear me, he said yes but he couldn't say much."I don't think Lee wanted to talk because he knew there was something wrong internally and he didn't want to admit it to himself."We knew he had broken his legs but no one was aware of the damage inside."When the doctors at the hospital told me about his aorta being severed I thought he must be dead."They said there was a 95% chance he wouldn't survive the surgery to put a stent to fix the aorta."Lee, who has 5,000 parachute jumps under his belt, was rushed to a hospital in nearby Annecy and miraculously survived the surgery.
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