A Nottinghamshire mum has thanked the Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance for saving her son's life.
Karen Metcalf, 52, received the call no parent wants to hear on September 18, 2015.
She was told her 26-year-old son, Craig, had been involved in a crash on the A46 and she needed to get to the Queen's Medical Centre as quickly as she could.
She said: "When I got there, they couldn't tell me anything but what they did say was that his chances were improved by the fact that he was young and fit and the air ambulance had got to him quickly.
"He had broken every bone in his head from his jaw upwards. His van crashed into the back of a HGV and went underneath it.
"He needed facial reconstruction and was brain damaged. He spent 10 months in hospital and is still recovering now.
"He has exceeded the doctors expectations massively and is improving every day. What I can say for sure is that the air ambulance saved my son's life."
Karen, who lives in Newthorpe, said she didn't realise the air ambulance didn't receive funding until she needed their help.
She added: "I can't stress the importance of the service. You cannot put a price on someone's life and this is a life saving service."
Craig, now 29, has been left with speech problems, weakness on his right hand side and he has been left blind in one eye and partially sighted in the other.
However, his speech and movement are improving through the help of physiotherapy and language therapy.
Since airlifting its very first patient on May 13, 1994, the air ambulance has provided a life-saving service in the region.
To date, the ambulance has been called out to more than 20,000 critically injured patients across Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.
Steve Collyer, of Coddington near Newark, was airlifted by the Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance on 10 June 1998 following a terrifying road traffic collision near his home.
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He was airlifted in the charity’s very first aircraft, a Bölkow, to the QMC.
Due to life-threating injuries, Steve was taken straight to theatre where the clinical team operated on his ruptured heart and his parents were told to prepare for the worst.
Almost 21 years later, and he now treats June 10 as his ‘second birthday’ after the day that his life was saved.
He said:“ I have no doubt that if I had been transported to QMC by road ambulance, I would not be here to tell my story.
“Being air lifted by the Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance was a life saver for me. I will be forever grateful for that and to the people whose charitable donations enable it to continue flying and saving many more lives.”
To celebrate 25 years, the Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance officially unveiled an eye-catching design across the tail of their Ambucopter.
The iconic yellow helicopter tail now depicts 25 pair of hands – with each reflecting on the story of a former patient whose life has been touched by the charity’s life-saving crew.
Karen Jobling, the chief executive officer at Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance, said: "We are absolutely delighted to be celebrating our 25 year in service. Our remarkable charity has come a very long way since its humble beginnings in 1994, when we operated out of a Portakabin and could only fly when we had raised the money to do so.
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"Since then, the tremendous support of our local community has ensured that our Ambucopter remains on call and available to those in need 365 days a year.
“We are incredibly grateful to the people and businesses of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire who have shown us such wonderful support. We receive no direct Government funding, meaning that we rely solely on the generosity of the public to ensure that our life-saving service continues.”
Throughout the rest of their 25th anniversary year, the Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance will be running a series of fundraising events and activities to help keep their Ambucopter in the sky for many more years to come.
To find out how you can get involved and help ensure the charity’s 25 year is one to remember, visit www.ambucopter.org.uk or call the team on 01522 548469 (Lincs) or 0115 9412255 (Notts).
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