Being told your son has been involved in a fatal accident is the most unimaginable
experience a parent could ever go through.
For Delyth Davies, last year that nightmare became a reality after she was told the
devastating news that her son Owen was involved in a head-on motorcycle accident.
Police were initially told Owen had died in the accident, leaving Delyth facing the horrific
anguish no parent should endure.
Owen’s twin sister Carys, who was working as a call handler at Police headquarters in
Bridgend, was taken to one side where she was given the awful news.
Recalling that horrendous time, Carys said: “I felt like the whole world had stopped spinning.
I was instructed not to inform family members until there was an update provided by one of
the officers on scene, so that they could prepare for good news or bad news.
“At this point, it really did feel like time had frozen. I excused myself to the bathroom where
I then realised I was the only person in my entire family to know Owen was unresponsive
with the possibility of not surviving, and it felt like a physical weight on my shoulders. I
couldn’t breathe; I prayed, I paced, and I can remember forcing my shaking hands to call his
number because I refused to accept that my twin brother was unresponsive in the middle of
a road after being in a collision.”
It was whilst collecting Carys from work that Delyth was then given the horrendous news
that Owen had been involved in the fatal accident.
For 30 minutes, Delyth and Carys went through the horrific ordeal of believing Owen had
lost his life in the crash.
The Charity’s critical care team, Critical Care Practitioners Mike Palmer and Ben Seabourne,
were dispatched to the scene of the accident in a rapid response vehicle. When they
arrived, they assessed Owen’s injuries. They were joined by Doctor Ian Bowler, who is also a
Wales Air Ambulance medic but on that day was working as an emergency medical
volunteer for BASICS Wales.
Ian had just returned from his holiday and rushed to the scene, still in his holiday clothes, to
be at Owen’s aid.
The critical care team quickly established that Owen had multiple traumatic injuries. He was
sedated at the roadside, given blood products and blood clotting medication to prevent any
further bleeding.
Owen was then put into an induced coma and placed on a ventilator to take over his
breathing.
Delyth, a learning support officer from Ogmore, said: “Incredibly, an update came through
that Wales Air Ambulance were on scene and had managed to stabilise and intubate Owen
at the roadside, but he was still extremely critical and needed specialist care. I struggled to
breathe as I feared Owen would die before I could reach him.”
Once stabilised, Owen was transferred by road ambulance, with the Wales Air Ambulance
medics on board, to the Major Trauma Centre at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff.
The treatments Owen received are typically only available in hospital emergency
departments. However, thanks to the unique third-sector and public-sector partnership
between the Wales Air Ambulance Charity and Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer
Service (EMRTS), he received advanced care before being transferred to the major trauma
centre.
Owen sustained life-threatening injuries, including a traumatic brain injury, a collapsed lung,
internal bleeding 10 fractured spinal vertebrae, severe nerve damage to his arm and
shoulder, multiple abdominal lacerations, two broken shoulders, and visual impairments.
A grateful Delyth said: “As a mam, there are moments in life that you never imagine you will
have to face. For me and my family, 30 August 2025 was one of those moments, when
Owen was involved in a horrible accident that changed his life forever.
“Owen’s accident would have been fatal if it had not been for the emergency services,
including the medics, police and members of the public.”
“Wales Air Ambulance brought specialist, emergency care to a young man lying lifeless in
the road. I truly believe that without this expert care at the scene, Owen would not be here
today.
“They didn’t just save a life that day – they saved a son, a twin brother, a baby brother,
uncle, nephew, grandson and amazing friend. They gave us something no amount of money
could ever buy – time.”
Owen spent over three weeks in hospital following his accident and is now living with his
life-changing injuries.
Before his accident, Owen was very fit and active. He enjoyed MMA cage fighting, going to
the gym and Jujitsu.
At just 21 years old, Owen had to give up his dream career of joining the military and learn
how to live with permanent paralysis in his arm.
Following his accident, he had to learn to walk again and adapt to his disability.
Delyth, who took six months off work, said: “When Owen returned home it was the
personal care that was soul destroying for him. Every shower he would get upset because I
would have to help him. Every time he needed the toilet, he would get upset because it was
me who had to take him. At 21, no man that age wants his mother washing him and taking
him to the toilet.
“We tried to get through the days by lifting each other. Not only was it difficult for Owen,
but it was incredibly difficult for me because I had gone from watching my fit son, just a few
weeks before, in Jiujitsu and MMA fighting to now having to shower and bath him. It was
incredibly difficult for us when we returned home.
“It has been an enormous mental battle for him, but he continues to face every challenge
with determination.”
Delyth continued: “Despite everything that has followed since the accident, there is one
thing I will always be incredibly grateful for – the Wales Air Ambulance. I thank them so
much for bringing Owen home alive.
“Until you are in a position like we were relying on critical care to sustain my son’s life, I
don’t think others have any idea how important it is.
“Owen has always been and still is eternally grateful for the care he received, and he knows
that the professionals who saved him literally gave him his life and a chance to live.”
Carys described feeling as though she had lost part of herself while Owen was in hospital.
She said: “I cannot stress enough how grateful I am to the courageous, strong, hard-
working, lifesaving and incredibly important team of people who helped my brother that
day. Without Wales Air Ambulance, I would not be a twin anymore. Those are words I still
struggle to comprehend, because I cannot imagine a life where my brother is not in it. He is
not simply my brother; he is my twin, my best friend, and someone who has been beside me
for every stage of my life.
“Wales Air Ambulance gave me my twin back. I will be grateful for the rest of my life.”
Owen and Delyth were recently reunited with Wales Air Ambulance medic Ben Seabourne.
Owen said: “Meeting Ben was surreal; it was like meeting an angel. He had my life in his
hands. He said I had fewer than six breaths per minute. This guy saved my life, and I got to
see my sisters again, my mother, my father, friends and I got to see home again because of
the medics who do all this because they care so much about people.”
Ben said: “As a Critical Care Practitioner, I regularly see people on the worst day of their
lives. But as a father, hearing what Owen and his family have been through touches me on a
much more personal level.
“Owen was critically unwell, but we were able to give him the best possible chance of
survival by providing critical care interventions that would usually only be available in a
hospital.
“Sadly, people need our help every day of the year, even on Christmas Day.
“As highlighted by Delyth, the impact of our service goes far beyond the patient, and the
greatest privilege of our role is seeing patients reunited with the people who love them.
Knowing that families like Delyth’s can spend another Christmas together is exactly why
your support matters so much.”
If you would like to donate to The light that didn’t go out Christmas appeal and help save
more lives across Wales, you can donate by visiting
https://www.walesairambulance.com/shinebright
A grateful Delyth has recently fundraised for the lifesaving Charity, which played such an
important part in saving Owen’s life, by skydiving for the all-Wales service. Delyth has raised
an incredible £2,275 for the Charity.
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