A VALLEYS father had his life saved by a Gwent Police nurse who happened to arrive on the scene of a crash just moments after it happened.

Adam Brinkworth, 27, of Fleur de Lys, was trapped under a van after the crash on a Valleys road.

By chance, Gwent Police lead custody nurse Louise Price, 31, was driving on the A4048 on her way to Ystrad Mynach police station from Newport central station as she approached the end of her night shift.

She ripped off strips of her scrubs to stem Mr Brinkworth’s bleeding and resuscitated him three times when he stopped breathing.

Mr Brinkworth, father to Adam, five, and Dylan, two, said: “If Louise hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t be here.

Thank you for saving my life.” Mr Brinkworth, of Castle Street, was a passenger in the van, driven by his friend Paul Ducie, as they made their way back to Newport just after 5.30am on September 6, 2011, after delivering bundles of the South Wales Argus to shops, newsagents and supermarkets.

Between Ynysddu and Wyllie, the van was in collision with an oncoming car.

The van toppled on to its side and, because Mr Brinkworth had has window open, he got trapped by the van. Mrs Price, a psychiatric nurse from Abergavenny, drove round the corner just seconds later. She turned her car to face the van and shone her headlights on the crash so she could see before leaping out to help.

Mr Ducie went running fromthe van, screaming that his friend was trapped. The driver of the other car told Mrs Price he was fine, so she made her way through the back of the van, which was now billowing smoke, and heaved bundles of newspapers out of the way to reach Mr Brinkworth, who was bleeding heavily and drifting in and out of consciousness.

She said: “It was horrendous, with the job I do here, I’m not used to seeing anything like that.” The crash opened a penny-sized hole in Mr Brinkworth’s skull, broke his jaw in three places on the right hand side and completely shattered it on the left-hand side.

There was also extensive damage to his left arm, which needed a skin graft from his leg and 40 staples to repair. He also lost several teeth.

Breathing stopped repeatedly

WHEN he stopped breathing, Mrs Price was unable to perform proper CPR due to the cramped conditions, so had to do one-handed chest compressions and carried out mouth-to-mouth to bring him back around, which she had to do two more times when his breathing stopped again.

Mr Brinkworth, who has a partner, Carly Price, 26, cannot recall the crash, but the first thing he remembers afterwards is the sound of Mrs Price’s voice, telling him to stay awake and asking about his children.

Mrs Price said: “I never thought he was going to survive because of the amount of blood he lost and his injuries looked horrific.”

When paramedics arrived, Mrs Price continued treating him until firefighters were able to cut him free. He spent a week in Newport’s Royal Gwent Hospital before being moved to Swansea’s Morriston Hospital where he underwent four operations over the next three weeks.

Nurse now up for award

FOR her actions, Mrs Price has been nominated for a Royal Humane Society award by Inspector Geraint Evans.

Mrs Price said: “My award is seeing Adam sat here now, although it is lovely to have recognition for that.”