Run with Rebekah – if she can, so can you! Please help this extraordinary woman, who is determined to save more lives after battling to survive her own.
The idea is to help raise funds to buy more lifesaving specialist equipment for Magpas Helimedix, much like the kit that was used to help save Rebekah’s life. For Rebekah’s story; please see as below, or watch the feature filmed by ITV Anglia just by clicking on this link:
To join the Run with Rebekah campaign:
Simply donate funds directly to Rebecca’s Just Giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/Rebekah-Cheshire/
OR why not sign up to a running event near to where you live and either donate the money raised directly to Rebekah’s Just Giving page (as above), OR you can create your own page (making it clear that you are supporting the Run with Rebekah campaign).
On the morning of 20th December in 1994, Louise Donaldson from near Peterborough, was driving her little daughter Rebekah to nursery in Wisbech on her way to work. Suddenly, the car span out of control, left the road and careered head on into a 10-foot ditch. Louise suffered a broken collar bone and Rebekah (who was almost 3 years old at the time), was left with head and body injuries so severe, her mum was convinced her baby was dead. “I remember being in the back of the ambulance” Louise says. “My neck was in a brace, I couldn’t move and I was in a total panic; whilst two doctors treated Rebekah and comforted me that they were doing the best they could for her”. It turns out that Rebekah died twice on the way to Peterborough District Hospital (as it was then), only to be revived twice thanks to two Magpas volunteer doctors and the vital equipment they were using.
Rebekah had sustained critical brain damage and was predicted to live in a vegetative state for the rest of her life, if she survived at all. However, this incredible young woman has since defied all expectations; she is now 23 years old and she has learnt to walk, talk, hear, eat, sit and see again! Despite dealing with some physical, learning and emotional challenges, Rebekah Cheshire (as she is now known) is determined to train to run long distances (which doesn’t come easily for her). Her mission? To fundraise and buy crucial lifesaving equipment, much like the kit that was used to help save her life 20 years ago. Now Rebekah is inviting you run with her – wherever you are!
Before the horrific accident in 1994, mum Louise describes her daughter as being incredibly bright and ahead of her years, “She absolutely loved books and jigsaw puzzles and didn’t give up until all the pieces were in the right place”. These days Rebekah is just as strong minded and won’t ever say the word, “can’t”. On 14th June, after months of hard training, she ran her first event; the Stanwick Lakes 5km run. Rebekah crossed the finishing line in under an hour, with her entire family cheering her on!
Rebekah is hoping to be involved with yet more runs and she is asking people to sign up to sporting events wherever they are and raise funds for the charity that helped to save her life. Mum and daughter Cheshire appreciate more than most the importance of having access to lifesaving equipment when it’s urgently needed. They have since found out the portable defibrillator, used by the Magpas Doctors in the ambulance in 1994, was only made available thanks to the fantastic fundraising efforts of another local family (who Magpas were called out a few months before).
Twenty years on and the care Magpas Helimedix provides continues to evolve and so does the equipment we use; bringing A&E care by land and by air to patients in life threatening situations in the East of England. Recently, inspirational Rebekah Cheshire (dressed in her running kit) was joined by her mother Louise and former Magpas Doctor Nick Jackson who helped this mother and daughter all those years ago. This was Rebekah’s first visit to the Magpas Helimedix Operations Base, as we get ready to support her campaign. Magpas Medical Director Dr Simon Lewis also thanked Rebekah and her family for all their efforts, as we encourage more people to Run with Rebekah – and help raise funds for much needed kit and specialist treatment to help save more Rebekahs!
To sponsor Rebekah’s run, visit: https://www.justgiving.com/Rebekah-Cheshire/
