A catastrophic quad bike accident while holidaying on a West African island has led to the death of well-known Penrith man Simon Davidson.
Simon, aged 62, and his wife Brenda ran the Corner Shop newsagents in King Street for many years and Simon was also well known in his role as a driver, delivering copies of the Herald to newsagents all over the patch each Friday.
He died in Tenerife, with his wife and daughter beside him, after suffering multiple injuries during a guided quad bike tour on Boa Vista, one of the Cape Verde islands.
Brenda and Simon have enjoyed November holidays on the island for the past 11 years and a quad bike tour was always a highlight. This year it was booked towards the end of their 11-night stay.
Simon was one of just two customers on the tour — the other being one of the Penrith couple’s friends who, like Brenda and Simon, have been long-term visitors to Tenerife.
Brenda explained that the four-hour ride took the group along the beautiful Santa Maria Beach and then up into sand dunes. “Usually, the tour is led by a guide, with another man following at the back. This time, a younger lad was leading for the first time and he took them up into the dunes and over the top of a ridge,” she said.
“Simon was third in line and the two ahead of him went up and over the ridge out of sight. As Simon went over the top, he realised there was nothing below, he was in mid air and all he could see were two overturned quad bikes below him.”
Simon landed head first on one of the bikes in the fall, with the man ahead of him suffering severe arm and rib injuries. There were delays in getting medical help to the remote location and Simon, who was suffering from neck pain, was first taken to a local hospital where only an extremely basic X-ray machine was available.
Brenda rushed to the hospital and camped out there over the next few hours, with Simon eventually moved to a local private hospital where facilities were better.
It was clear his condition was extremely serious, with his neck pain being severe, and that he needed specialist treatment. The family’s insurers then arranged for a private medical plane with nurse and doctor on board to transport him to Tenerife, where they were met by their daughter, Sophie, and later joined by Brenda’s sister, Joan Scott.
MRI and CT scans revealed that Simon had broken vertebrae in his neck and lower back, with surgery the only treatment option. On Friday he was moved into the hospital’s intensive care unit.
“It was all made harder by the fact that nobody spoke English, we needed an interpreter and Simon couldn’t understand what the doctors were telling him,” said Brenda. “They had restrictions which meant we were not allowed to go in to see him except for a few minutes, only one at a time.”
She added: “He was due to have the operation at 10am on Saturday and he was able to video call us on his phone. It was a lovely talk, he was laughing and talking about how he was going to have pizza for his tea.”
Brenda was allowed just two minutes with Simon prior to him being taken into the operating theatre. “They said just one of us could go in, then I noticed Sophie was by my side, and they said it was so serious that she should say goodbye as well,” recalled Brenda.
The operation revealed devastating damage to Simon’s spine which would have seen him paralysed had he survived. As it was, his condition deteriorated and he died peacefully on Sunday.
“My dad was a massive Man United fan, you wouldn’t find a bigger fan,” said Sophie. “So I managed to get the game on my phone, Manchester United versus Leicester. We listened to the match together and Man United won 3-0, I said ‘They have done it for you, dad.’ It was really peaceful, he just drifted away.”
Sophie said: “People back at home have been saying what a lovely, kind man he was. I hope he knew how much he was loved.”
