A FOOTBALLER who suffered suspected spinal damage during a game had to be rescued through an unstairs window of his home.Ambulance and fire crews were called to the house in Green Lane, Tattingstone, after 22-year-old Aaron Warner complained of spinal and head injuries.

A FOOTBALLER who suffered suspected spinal damage during a game had to be rescued through an unstairs window of his home.

Ambulance and fire crews were called to the house in Green Lane, Tattingstone, after 22-year-old Aaron Warner complained of spinal and head injuries.

He had been playing football for Queens in Bucklesham Road on Sunday morning when he was injured under a heavy challenge.

He returned back to his family home and immediately went to bed. His mother called NHS Direct while Mr Warner contacted the emergency services by mobile telephone.

The ambulance service was alerted to the incident at 3pm on Sunday and contacted fire crews shortly after arriving at the scene.

Because of Mr Warner's injuries they needed to keep him flat and due to the shape of the house it was impossible to get him down the stairs.

Mr Warner, who was playing in the Division Eight Flare Recruitment Ipswich Sunday League, was x-rayed at the hospital and told he had bad bruising but nothing worse.

He cannot return to football for at least a month.

He said today: "I still don't feel 100 per cent but am taking it slowly rested up in bed.

"I'm taking painkillers but don't feel up to doing much."

His mother Maureen Warner, 53, watched as fire crews cut away her landing window and removed her son on a turn table ladder.

She said: "He came in from football and said he had gone up for a header and ended up in a heap. He came in and went to bed. He had some painkillers and then he said to get an ambulance.

"His head was hurting and he had numbness in his right side.

"Going to bed was out of character – he usually has a cup of tea and something to eat when he gets in.

"He was conscious and was talking but I was quite worried."

A cricket match was being played on the green opposite the house as the drama unfolded.

It stopped momentarily as the air ambulance landed and then again when it took off.

Other villagers gathered to see Mr Warner emerge from the window on a spinal board and be lowered from the first floor to the ground on a turn table ladder. He was then taken to Colchester General Hospital by air ambulance – a journey which takes about four minutes.

Paul Seager, assistant divisional officer for the fire service, said: "We got a call from the ambulance service requesting assistance.

"The young lad was complaining of pains in his back and they suspected some sort of back injury. They needed him moved with as little disturbance to his body as possible so they asked us to help them.

"The route we agreed was to take the window out on the landing and use the turn table ladder. The alternative was to wind him down the staircase.

"We occasionally get these situations but not very often. When we do they can be tricky to handle and the turn table ladder really comes into its own."

Mr Warner was finally taken to hospital at about 5.30pm – the wait was partly because he had to be moved slowly and because fire crews were keen for the air ambulance to arrive before Mr Warner was removed from the house.

Jason Gillingham, clinical field operations manager for the ambulance service, said he did not know how serious Mr Warner's injuries were but added that there was movement in all four of his limbs.

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