Teen trail bike rider uses Siri to survive horror injuries

A trail bike crash that almost claimed the life of 14-year-old Shaun Spinks was captured on his GoPro. He miraculously survived after using Siri on his iPhone to call for help.

First, he calmly stripped off and used his shirt as a makeshift tourniquet to stem the blood pouring from his mangled leg; then he managed to retrieve his badly smashed iPhone and use digital assistant Siri to call for help.

Shaun is being hailed as his own hero for his incredible bravery and quick thinking after the crash near his Bonogin home.

He said he was riding his 250cc dirt bike at about 140km/h when he hit a rock.

“The bars started shaking and then I hit another rock which sent me flying up in the air into a tree,” he recalled on Friday at Mudgeeraba ambulance station, where he was reunited with paramedics who helped save him.

“I must have blacked out. The bike was about 25m behind me with my phone, and my leg was just sitting on my chest.”

Shaun said when he came to, he realised he was bleeding badly from a gaping hole in his right leg.

“I didn’t think I was going to make it when I saw the hole (in his leg) … it was a lot bigger than I thought it was,” he said.

“There’s so much going through my head at that moment. I took my pants and my top off, wrapped that around (the wound) and really tightened it as hard as I could.

“It just came into my head … stop the blood, otherwise I was just going to pass out.

“I know your body doesn’t have that much blood. It’s got a bit, but the amount that was coming out … ‘’

Shaun then crawled to get to his phone. It was too banged-up to use normally, but he remarkably managed to make a voice-activated call to Triple 0 and his dad David via Siri.

“I just had to hope it worked, otherwise I just had to pray and hopefully my dad would come and save me,” he said.

Paramedics Marissa Kukulies and Gary Berkowitz, who reached a badly injured Shaun with the help of a 4WD ambulance, said his courage and cool thinking were incredible for his age.

“He had quite a large laceration to his affected leg that was bleeding quite a lot and even at 14, he had the foresight to use his shirt as a tourniquet,” Ms Kukulies said.

“His phone was incredibly smashed but again he had the insight to use Siri to call Triple 0 and his parents to tell them where he was.

“Those two key components of his actions definitely saved his life.

“Shaun really saved his own life and we just helped him to hospital.

“I think he’d make a fantastic paramedic – I’d be his reference.”

Shaun has had multiple surgeries for injuries including leg, pelvis and rib fractures and is still in a wheelchair, but said he was determined to get back on his dirt bike as soon as he can.

Fighting back tears, his mum Denise said she wasn’t so keen but knows it’s what he loves.

“He’s here – that is amazing – and he still has his leg,” she said.

“He has got himself to thank. He’s a remarkable child, he really, really is. To do what he did, to save himself, I am so proud of him. We are all so proud of him.”