In his military career, Ray was also faced with responding to the Lockerbie Disaster
A self-described “Hull lad” has written a biography charting his beginnings from the tight-knit streets of Fountain Road to becoming a paramedic. Ray Chapman, 57, recently published Becoming A Specialist Paramedic about his 25 years’ experience in frontline emergency care.
He also served as a private in the Armed Forces, which saw him in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and on the ground in the aftermath of the Lockerbie Disaster. But his story begins very much in the Hull of 1968.
Ray said: “My mum met a guy who was in the RAF and he told a lie about his name and basically she got pregnant and was a single mother. There was no benefits systems like there is nowadays. It was hard and she had to work full-time.”
Although he got on OK in the army, Ray knew it was not what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. In 1988, he got a job in patient transport, later becoming a technician in 2000.
He became a paramedic in 2004 and worked his way up to his current position of specialist paramedic in 2012.
“I’ve been on various jobs, but I have to be careful about not breaching patient confidentially so I have used a lot of the stories that have already been in the press,” he said. One of those is rugby player Conner Lynes from Bransholme, who suffered a stroke when he was just 14 years old.
To Ray’s surprise, Becoming A Specialist Paramedic was ranked 24th on Amazon for books about the medical field within days of its publication on Monday, December 15. So far, it has received unanimous five-star reviews.
The blurb reads: “There’s a moment in every paramedic’s life when chaos meets calm – and you realise this isn’t just a job. It’s not the sirens or the adrenaline, but the privilege of being trusted at someone’s worst moment.
“That realisation didn’t come in a classroom, but on wet tarmac, in cramped living rooms, and in the back of an ambulance humming with tension. This book isn’t just about clinical skill – it’s about people, lessons, and the moments that never leave you.”
Ray said he wrote the book himself, telling the stories in his own words. He added: “I have tried to keep it from going into too much depth medically, so I don’t bamboozle anybody.”