BY AILEEN MURPHY

The mother of a young man who survived a 14 foot-fall while trying to gain access to a licensed premises in Enniskillen, has praised the actions of medical staff who she says undoubtedly saved her son's life.

Speaking to the 'Herald', Marina Moffitt spoke of the moment she received the phone call every parent dreads, to say her son, Jason, was seriously ill having fallen trying to jump, from an adjacent premises, into the smoking area of the Crow's Nest pub: "The phone went about one o'clock last Monday morning. It was from my daughter she had got a call immediately and was there. She said 'Mummy he's lying on the ground and is in a bad way, he's bleeding from the mouth and nose'. All I wanted to know was if he was still living?"

"We went immediately to the Erne hospital, I was just gripped with fear. The Sister reassured me he was still living and they were working on him. Then, when they came to tell us we could see him, I couldn't get up, I was frozen to the chair. My husband Leslie, went in first and then I went to see Jason. He was unconscious but when I said 'Mummy's here' he squeezed my hand, and then I said 'If you can understand me at all, move your eyes any way you can', and he started to open one of them."

Mrs Moffitt explains the horrific injuries suffered by Jason, who will be 21 in a few weeks, were concentrated mainly on his face and head.

"He fell straight on his face, it was life-threatening for the first 24 hours. We went home around 5.30am, but the night Sister phoned us at 7.30am to say his condition had deteriorated and he was on a life-support machine. We went back in and then he stabilised later that evening. A specialist team from the Royal Hospital in Belfast came down in a taxi and travelled back up by in an ambulance with Jason."

For the next few days Jason's condition remained critical and he underwent a three-and-a-half hour operation to insert plates in his nose and eye. However, he was discharged from hospital on Monday of this week and is now recuperating at home. He still has a lot of medical treatment to receive, but Mrs Moffitt explains he should make "a 100 percent recovery."

Despite going through this horrendous experience, the Moffitt family have nothing but praise for everyone who helped Jason.

Those first on the scene, including staff from the Crow's Nest, and the ambulance crew, who she explains 'were there within minutes and were just brilliant'.

She also said the night Sister, doctors and staff in Casualty in the Erne Hospital saved Jason's life: "People are always saying bad things about the Erne, but they were brilliant and all worked so hard to save him, I am just so grateful to them and also to the staff in the Royal."

Although Jason is on the road to recovery Mrs Moffitt is fearful accidents like this could become all too common. She appealed to all premises with raised outside smoking areas to erect cages around them, warning: "it will happen again, it is an accident waiting to happen."

Mrs Moffitt added "I don't want any family to have to go through this. It was just terrible, I'll never forget the fear he may have been dead. I just couldn't have gone on without him."