A Scots mum who tragically lost her tiny baby has trained to be a paramedic after receiving amazing care from the ambulance service.
Gina Scanlan has told of her inspiration to join the Scottish Ambulance Service after witnessing the care her baby Willow received before she sadly died.
Gina was offered the post of trainee ambulance technician three weeks ago and is now in training.
The 46-year-old and her husband David, who live near Fyvie in Aberdeenshire, battled to keep Willow alive after she was diagnosed with the rare chromosomal condition trisomy 18, or Edwards’ syndrome after being born in 2017 with serious heart defects.
In the story, which appeared on the Scottish Ambulance Service's Facebook page, Gina said: "I want to help the ambulance service that did so much for us and I want to be able to help other people in the way that they helped us."
Willow’s life was divided between spells at home, in hospital in Aberdeen and Glasgow and at Robin House Children’s Hospice in Balloch - with a string of emergency ambulance journeys by road and air.
But Gina and David refused to give up on her, and she had the surgery she needed in June 2018.
Willow had fought all odds to live and was doing well after the operation - but she later suffered a chest infection and died aged just 14 months peacefully in her parents’ arms.
Gina added: "At the times of greatest crisis, when we were most afraid, they filled us with confidence that they would do everything in their power to get our little girl to hospital alive."
