A dad-of-three who plunged into a coma after a horrific paragliding accident on holiday was saved by a bus full of Brits.

Jeremy Minchin was flying above the mountains of Nepal with his friend Andrew Scaramanga when he oversteered in a panic and caused his glider to fold ‘like a crisp packet’ above him.

The 54-year-old, from Taunton, Somerset, plummeted to the ground, losing consciousness as he smashed onto the rocks below.

While he was not dead, he had broken his pelvis in seven places, cracked numerous ribs, punctured his lung, smashed an elbow and ruptured his spleen and aorta.

For six days Jeremy lay unconscious in a coma while his wife Julia, who had flown out to be by his side, desperately tried to arrange his medical care.

After bundling her then conscious but heavily medicated husband onto a tiny propeller plane from Puka to Bancock, Julia put the word out on ex-pat radio that Jeremy needed help.

The following day the call was answered and Jeremy was able to go under the knife.

Jeremy and Julia with their three children (
Image:
Jeremy and Julia Minchin)

John said: “Julia called the local embassy late on Friday and took it into her own hands.

“At 10am the next day she had a bus load of people there all with the right blood type.

“I'm extremely lucky to have a determined and resourceful and stubborn wife.”

From its start Jeremy and Julia’s relationship has been characterised by dramatic injuries.

When they first met while on a skiing holiday Julia promptly and painfully tore her cruciate ligament.

Her need for speed was undiminished however, leading her to break her arm and pelvis in a horse riding accident several years later.

Not to be outdone, after smashing his shoulder on the pistes, falling off his motorbike and drilling through the artery in his leg, Jeremy tumbled beneath the stamping hooves of his horse.

The couple's relationship has been punctuated by accidents (
Image:
Jeremy and Julia Minchin)

What he initially brushed off as a bit of bruising turned out to be broken ribs and a collapsed lung that caused one and a half litres of blood to pool in his chest.

“I'm well aware of how incredibly lucky I am,” Jeremy, from near Taunton in Somerset, explained.

“Had it stamped a bit lower it would have smashed me with its iron clad hoof.

“It’s lucky he stepped just below my collar bone where the ribs are short and stubby and quite strong.

“Or he could have stepped on my face and that would have been a right mess.”

It wasn’t until Jeremy first took to the skies above the Himalayas back in 2011 however, that he really began dicing with death.

On the day of his accident the conditions above the city of Pokhara were perfect for paragliding.

Jeremy and Andrew performed acrobatic manoeuvres in the crisp blue sky before turning back to land.

(
Image:
Supplied)

“I realised I was going to overshoot and so in order to avoid landing in water I needed to turn,” he recalled.

“I was breaking as well as turning, which you shouldn't do. I collapsed the wing above me.

“The whole thing crumpled like a crisp packet in a fist. I fell directly downwards.

“I slapped down onto a really hard rocky surface. The last thing I remember thinking was ‘oh no’.”

Andrew helped an emergency service team locate Jeremy and put him on a stretcher.

Once at a nearby medical centre doctors began to provide emergency treatment while Andrew tried to call Julia to tell her what had happened.

He recovered in hospital before being flown home to the UK (
Image:
Supplied)

He left a message with the woman who cleans their house, who in turn told Julia that Jeremy had been in an accident but would likely be fine.

Confident that everything was okay, she delayed calling her husband until the following day - only to discover he was deep in a coma and therefore unable to take her call.

At that point Julia "kicked into action", finding last minute care for their 8, 11 and 13-year-old children before hopping on a plane to Nepal.

Jeremy was transferred via helicopter to capital Kathmandu where he came round from his six day long coma.

Julia and his brother then accompanied the drug addled dad on a small propeller plane which flew over the mountains to Thai capital Bangkok.

He was taken by ambulance to the airport (
Image:
Supplied)

John said: “Julia called the local embassy late on Friday and took it into her own hands.

“At 10am the next day she had a bus load of people there all with the right blood type.

“I'm extremely lucky to have a determined and resourceful and stubborn wife.”

From its start Jeremy and Julia’s relationship has been characterised by dramatic injuries.

When they first met while on a skiing holiday Julia promptly and painfully tore her cruciate ligament.

Her need for speed was undiminished however, leading her to break her arm and pelvis in a horse riding accident several years later.

Not to be outdone, after smashing his shoulder on the pistes, falling off his motorbike and drilling through the artery in his leg, Jeremy tumbled beneath the stamping hooves of his horse.

The couple's relationship has been punctuated by accidents (
Image:
Jeremy and Julia Minchin)

What he initially brushed off as a bit of bruising turned out to be broken ribs and a collapsed lung that caused one and a half litres of blood to pool in his chest.

“I'm well aware of how incredibly lucky I am,” Jeremy, from near Taunton in Somerset, explained.

“Had it stamped a bit lower it would have smashed me with its iron clad hoof.

“It’s lucky he stepped just below my collar bone where the ribs are short and stubby and quite strong.

“Or he could have stepped on my face and that would have been a right mess.”

It wasn’t until Jeremy first took to the skies above the Himalayas back in 2011 however, that he really began dicing with death.

On the day of his accident the conditions above the city of Pokhara were perfect for paragliding.

Jeremy and Andrew performed acrobatic manoeuvres in the crisp blue sky before turning back to land.

(
Image:
Supplied)

“I realised I was going to overshoot and so in order to avoid landing in water I needed to turn,” he recalled.

“I was breaking as well as turning, which you shouldn't do. I collapsed the wing above me.

“The whole thing crumpled like a crisp packet in a fist. I fell directly downwards.

“I slapped down onto a really hard rocky surface. The last thing I remember thinking was ‘oh no’.”

Andrew helped an emergency service team locate Jeremy and put him on a stretcher.

Once at a nearby medical centre doctors began to provide emergency treatment while Andrew tried to call Julia to tell her what had happened.

He recovered in hospital before being flown home to the UK (
Image:
Supplied)

He left a message with the woman who cleans their house, who in turn told Julia that Jeremy had been in an accident but would likely be fine.

Confident that everything was okay, she delayed calling her husband until the following day - only to discover he was deep in a coma and therefore unable to take her call.

At that point Julia "kicked into action", finding last minute care for their 8, 11 and 13-year-old children before hopping on a plane to Nepal.

Jeremy was transferred via helicopter to capital Kathmandu where he came round from his six day long coma.

Julia and his brother then accompanied the drug addled dad on a small propeller plane which flew over the mountains to Thai capital Bangkok.

He was taken by ambulance to the airport (
Image:
Supplied)

"At the hospital in Bangkok they did a complete assessment," explained Jeremy.

"They came back and said 'the bones are the least of your problems'.

"My ruptured spleen had been leaking into my stomach cavities and a CT scan showed my aorta was hanging on by a threat.

"They said the last thing I should be doing is flying in a small plane."

While the Thai medics inserted a stent and removed his spleen, Julia sent x-rays of her battered husband back to a friend of theirs who was a surgeon in the UK.

He warned that if the surgeons in Bangkok did not perform a complicated procedure on his arm immediately it could be functionally useless in several years' time.

When Juliet realised the hospital didn't have enough of the A- blood type for Jeremy to go under the knife she decided to ask for help.

Jeremy was able to go under the knife thanks to a bus load of generous bloog donors (
Image:
Supplied)

"Julia put the word out on expat radio and the next day they appeared with the right blood type," Jeremy said.

"It was this fantastic mix of people willing to give the right blood and their time so they could do the right surgery on my arm."

The procedure was a success, meaning Jeremy was able to get on a flight home.

After a "huge operation" to fix his shattered pelvis he spent four months slowly recovering and getting back on his feet.

While he did Julia was left to look after their children while running the family business Hippychick , a children and baby clothing company.

She said: "It was an unbelievably difficult time but in hindsight it gave me a greater confidence in my capabilities as both a delegator and as a mother.

"It also showed us who was really able to step up to the mark in the business, and in some cases this produced some surprising results."

Jeremy and Julia back home in Somerset (
Image:
Jeremy and Julia Minchin)

Jeremy also survived the ordeal.

"I can walk and run and play five-a-side football," he said.

"I can function as a normal person despite what happened. I have a number of people that do think I'm on my fourth or fifth life.

"I have been incredibly lucky but I think you need to have a positive mindset.

"It never occurred to me that I wouldn't get better. I have never thought about stopping doing what I want to do."

00m over 'fake' evidence 

"At the hospital in Bangkok they did a complete assessment," explained Jeremy.

"They came back and said 'the bones are the least of your problems'.

"My ruptured spleen had been leaking into my stomach cavities and a CT scan showed my aorta was hanging on by a threat.

"They said the last thing I should be doing is flying in a small plane."

While the Thai medics inserted a stent and removed his spleen, Julia sent x-rays of her battered husband back to a friend of theirs who was a surgeon in the UK.

He warned that if the surgeons in Bangkok did not perform a complicated procedure on his arm immediately it could be functionally useless in several years' time.

When Juliet realised the hospital didn't have enough of the A- blood type for Jeremy to go under the knife she decided to ask for help.

Jeremy was able to go under the knife thanks to a bus load of generous bloog donors (
Image:
Supplied)

"Julia put the word out on expat radio and the next day they appeared with the right blood type," Jeremy said.

"It was this fantastic mix of people willing to give the right blood and their time so they could do the right surgery on my arm."

The procedure was a success, meaning Jeremy was able to get on a flight home.

After a "huge operation" to fix his shattered pelvis he spent four months slowly recovering and getting back on his feet.

While he did Julia was left to look after their children while running the family business Hippychick, a children and baby clothing company.

She said: "It was an unbelievably difficult time but in hindsight it gave me a greater confidence in my capabilities as both a delegator and as a mother.

"It also showed us who was really able to step up to the mark in the business, and in some cases this produced some surprising results."

Jeremy and Julia back home in Somerset (
Image:
Jeremy and Julia Minchin)

Jeremy also survived the ordeal.

"I can walk and run and play five-a-side football," he said.

"I can function as a normal person despite what happened. I have a number of people that do think I'm on my fourth or fifth life.

"I have been incredibly lucky but I think you need to have a positive mindset.

"It never occurred to me that I wouldn't get better. I have never thought about stopping doing what I want to do."