Three more cheers for the boy who came in last: 36 years on, we catch up with star of heart-warming Francis Gay column

Alistair Hughes has no memory of the day he nearly died when he was just five years old but it moved thousands of Sunday Post readers.

Alistair suffered two broken legs, a smashed ankle and life-threatening internal injuries on December 12, 1983, when a runaway trailer crushed him against a wall.

After the accident, Alistair’s grandad David Allan, from Edinburgh, wrote to our enduring, heart-warming columnist Francis Gay to share his grandson’s miraculous recovery.

Not only was Alistair, who lived in the village of Clifford, West Yorkshire, up and walking six months after surgeons saved his leg but he competed in his school’s sports day, when his bravery inspired Francis Gay’s Sunday Post column under the headine “Three cheers for the boy who came in last.”

And, after reading a story catching up with another star of a Francis Gay column, Alistair’s proud mum Jackie, also from Edinburgh, contacted us 36 years on to reveal that Alistair was now working as a consultant anaesthetist at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford.

“It amazed my dad – and perhaps Francis Gay at the time – that this little lad who’d been through so much was still keen to take part in something like his school races,” said Jackie.

“I hope this inspires people that good that can come from hardships and there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.”

Alistair was rushed to St James’s Hospital in Leeds where three different medical teams – an orthopaedic team, a general surgical team and plastic surgeons – battled to heal his internal injuries and then save his right leg, which they feared would have to be amputated.

He was primarily treated by consultant orthopaedic surgeon Dr Daniel (“Donal”) Joseph McWilliams, whom Alistair came to know as “Big Mac” during his yearly check-ups.

While he has no recollection of the ordeal, Alistair said the experience partly inspired him to pursue a career in medicine years later.

“The people who saved a boy’s life and leg all those years ago, one way or another, whether they knew at the time or not, are partly responsible for where I am now,” he said. “It’s amazing what they achieved.

“I now know how difficult that procedure would be today, and that’s with all the kit, equipment and knowledge we have.

“To do that 30 odd years ago, with three separate teams working together across 14 hours, through the night, would require incredible knowledge and skill.

“I’ve no doubt the accident and my medical treatment afterwards played a part in me ending up in this career but I think my dad being a vet also fed into that decision.”

Alistair had no idea his grandparents had written to The Sunday Post until his mum showed him a clipping of the Francis Gay column five years ago, much to his bemusement.

“It’s such an insignificant thing, that egg and spoon race, but I suppose going from where I was to that in six months is a reasonably big step,” he said.

“I don’t remember anything about the accident, when I started walking again, or that sports day. Because this happened when I was five, I just got on with things. It never held me back.”

After an initial six weeks in hospital, Alistair returned to St James’s for further leg-lengthening operations and annual consultations with Dr McWilliams until he was 17.

Fascinated with the goings-on he witnessed in the hospital, Alistair spent two weeks’ work experience as a teenager shadowing junior doctors at the teaching hospital in Leeds.

He went on to study medicine at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry and later specialised in anesthesia.

Alistair walks with a limp because his right leg is two inches shorter than his left. He feels no pain, but does experience a little stiffness if he has been on his feet for a long time.

“What I love about the job is, especially working in anaesthetics and intensive care, you have an immediate impact on your patients,” he said.

“It sounds clichéd, but people do come to you in their darkest hours and, as part of a team, you have a chance to help them and hopefully make them better. And that’s basically what someone did for me.”

Jackie added: “Alistair called the surgeon ‘Big Mac’ because he was someone he looked up to. I always regretted not getting in touch with Mr McWilliams to let him know about Alistair.

“That accident could’ve ruined his life but he didn’t let it. Instead, it helped him find his career and help other people the way he was helped. I’m so proud of him.”

July 22, 1984

Earlier this year, I had a letter about a tragic accident.

David Allan, of Coltbridge Gardens, Edinburgh, told me how his five-year-old grandson, Alistair, had been crushed by a runaway trailer, just before Christmas.

The child’s legs were broken and his right ankle was shattered. His parents, Keith and Jackie Hughes, of Albion Street, Wetherby, were warned the leg would have to be amputated, and there were other serious internal injuries which had put Alistair’s life in danger. With the grandparents babysitting the rest of the young family, the heartbroken parents kept constant vigil at their son’s bedside.

But, thanks to the skill of the surgeons, Alistair’s leg was saved. He slowly regained his strength and began eating again. Then, last Saturday, came the school sports day. And here’s the remarkable thing. Six months ago, Alistair was at death’s door. At the weekend, he was running races. Oh, he was last in the first form flat race, though he came third in the egg and spoon. And he still has a long way to go. He’s to face many more operations. He may always walk with a limp and carry the scars of that terrible accident. But he ran that race last week.

Yes, there’s a lot of emphasis placed these days on winning. Yet who can deny that the proudest parents of all among the hundreds on that playing field were the parents of the lad who came last?