Sarah and Lee at her brothers wedding – just 20 days after the incident
With all that’s going on in the world at the moment you might think it’s strange that, for me, this Christmas will be the best one ever. I can’t wait to put up the tree, hang the decorations and write a Christmas card to my lovely girlfriend Sarah, telling her how much I’m looking forward to another year together – a card that I thought I might never get to write.
This Christmas I will also be playing the Magpas Christmas raffle and I hope that, after you have read my story, you will too.
You see last year, Sarah and I were going for our first ride out together. We both love motorcycles and so do our families – it’s in our blood. After a great morning ride, Sarah was a little ahead of me as we travelled down one of the main A roads near Chatteris in Cambridgeshire making our way home. Suddenly, out of nowhere a lorry appeared and without time to stop, ploughed straight into Sarah and her bike. I watched in horror as she was knocked into the air and landed further down the road. I will never forget the absolute fear and panic as I pulled up and ran over to her, all the time trying to talk calmly into the helmet headset ‘I’m coming hunni, I’m coming’.
Sarah was very badly injured with multiple broken bones that, without treatment, could have taken her life there on the roadside. Her right shoulder blade, femur (thigh), tibia (lower leg) and all of her toes were shattered. She was in so much pain and I couldn’t make it better. What came after that was a blur, but the thing I remember most clearly was the sound of the Magpas Air Ambulance helicopter and as it came into view I knew that help had arrived.
Sarah needed to get to hospital quickly but she couldn’t be moved until her injured limbs were straightened and reset. The Magpas medical team, Doctor Alison and Critical Care Paramedic Alex, sedated Sarah so they could undertake this difficult procedure, before carefully transferring her to the Magpas Air Ambulance. Sarah later told me that Alex held onto her hand the whole way to Addenbrooke’s Hospital which helped keep her calm.
It’s the little things, as well as the big things, that helped to save Sarah that day and for that I am so thankful to the Magpas team.
Sarah has faced a long road to recovery, but if it wasn’t for the lifesaving skills of Magpas Air Ambulance that day I might not be writing her a Christmas card this year. A thought I can hardly bare to have.
As a charity, funded by donations, it’s people like you that meant Magpas Air Ambulance could be there for Sarah and I that day. I wanted to share my story so that you know how amazing that support really is and to ask you, if you can, to play the Magpas Christmas Raffle this year so Magpas Air Ambulance can be there for the next family who needs them. You could even win the top prize of £3,000 – and this year more than most we all need a little hope of something better.
So enter online today and like me you could be ending the year on a high! Good luck to you all and I hope you have a Merry Christmas.
