Alice Lunn, from Godmanchester, is taking on the Cambridge Half Marathon for Magpas Air Ambulance this Sunday. Alongside her dad, the pair will run the gruelling 13.1 miles—all for the charity that saved Alice’s life four years ago.
In 2019, aged just 18, everything changed for Alice when she suffered a respiratory arrest at home one night.
Magpas Air Ambulance was called and performed procedures normally only available in a hospital A&E department to try to stabilise her condition, including making a small incision in the side of Alice’s chest. It was then, thanks to the team’s expert knowledge, they recognised that something was seriously wrong.
It transpired Alice had a tumour in her chest cavity that had grown so big it blocked her airway and crushed her lung. Magpas Air Ambulance took Alice to hospital and, following emergency surgery, she spent the next few months completing cancer treatment for the Lymphoma.
Alice has since made a fantastic recovery and dedicated a huge amount of her time to supporting Magpas Air Ambulance ever since. As a local charity that relies on generous public donations to continue saving lives in Cambridgeshire and beyond 24/7, support such as Alice’s is crucial and she’s since become a dedicated advocate for the service.
Running the Cambridge Half Marathon on Sunday isn’t the first sporting challenge Alice has taken on either, as the entire Lunn family climbed Snowdon for Magpas Air Ambulance in 2021.
Although nervous to take on an even greater challenge this weekend, Alice’s dad is with her every step of the way—quite literally! Alice explains, “It means so much to be able to run with my dad, he’s always been a keen runner and a huge inspiration for me to take on this challenge to raise money for Magpas Air Ambulance. My parents have always been my biggest supporters, so being able to run alongside my dad, as well as having my mum, siblings, grandparents and friends cheering me on means so much and makes this daunting challenge a lot more exciting!”
There’s still time to support Alice in her biggest challenge yet, and help Magpas Air Ambulance to save even more lives in your community. Alice continues, “For me, Magpas Air Ambulance was a charity that I wasn’t aware of until I truly needed them, and this is probably the case for lots of people. The advanced medical skills of the doctors and critical care paramedics, and their ability to stabilise me on my kitchen floor using procedures usually only available in hospital, means I was able to get to hospital and receive treatment for the Lymphoma I was diagnosed with. Working with the East of England paramedics, the Magpas Air Ambulance team quite possibly saved my life that night, and with our support can continue to save so many others.”
