Rebecca's story:

On the evening of the 13th of May we had a phone call, the one you all dread to get, the call that someone you love is in hospital fighting for their life due to an accident. When we first heard that my brother had been involved in an RTA whilst on his motorbike there was a lot of swearing, second guessing that he was driving without care (though that wasn't his style - not on a bike at least). Rushing to the QMC in Nottingham it unfolded that he was in fact the victim of careless driving, a driver had lost control and ran him over whilst he was stationary in traffic on his bike. As I stared down at him whilst he was hooked up to more tubes than you can think possible, saying that yes indeed he was Karl and I did recognise him as my brother, I was terrified and unsure of what would happen next, distraught at the thought of him seeing this hunk of metal coming at him and unable to do anything about it and the horror he must have felt. He was unable to breathe on his own, with two punctured lungs, two broken legs, lacerated spleen & liver, broken elbow, wrist, collar bones, shoulder blade, nose and various ribs and untold brain damage, the prognosis did not look good. The important thing though was that he was there, in hospital, receiving treatment quickly because of the actions of the Lincs&Notts air ambulance team, had they not been there he most definitely would not be lying on the bed getting amazing 24 hour care from the team at QMC in Nottingham.

As the weeks went on we saw our Karl progressively get better. From the first breath he took independently - which was as wonderous as watching our own children breathe when tiny babies, to the first squeeze of a hand, then onto the opening of eyes, the first look of recognition even though he couldn't speak and then onto the random stream of words and slowly moving to organised speech. The most special of days came when out of the blue on a visit he saw me, clung on to me and said how much he missed me, I can't describe the relief and joy, he was going to be ok. Nearly 3 months on he is wheeling himself about in his wheel chair, working on walking with a frame and is nearly his old self again-just the memory of a goldfish to sort out.

Now that he is out of the woods and proving to us the wonder of medical science and human spirit, it is time for us to give back. It costs £3000 every time the air ambulance saves a life, we'd like to raise as much as we can towards that figure so that others can be saved by such a phenomenal service. At the end of August we undertook a long distance challenge walk taking in the beauty and history of Derbyshire. 60 miles in 4 days up hill and down dale, we were overwhelmed by people's generosity and thank everyone. 

Now that the hard work is done we are now planning phase 2 of our fundraising. We are going to organise a 1950s dance in Whaley Bridge with all the proceeds topping up our air ambulance pot of money. We are just  working out the fine details and then will update everyone. 

Thank you

Rebecca & Ian