As many of you will know, my sister Catherine nearly died in a horse riding accident in the summer of 2009, while we were on a family holiday in Cornwall. The injuries to her lungs were so severe that she was unconcious for nearly a month and spent a total of 10 weeks in hospital - 7 of those in the Intensive Care Unit.
After her accident, Catherine was taken to hospital by the Cornwall Air Ambulance. This meant that a journey that would have taken a normal ambulance over 90 minutes by road was instead completed in just 8 minutes. It is this simple fact which has allowed Catherine to still be with us today, as there is no doubt that if she had reached hospital any later than she did, then she would have died.
When Catherine was first admitted to hospital with lung failure, we were initially very suprised that the doctors and nurses had so little experience of treating someone with the injuries she had sustained. We were even more suprised to learn that in fact, there were very few cases recorded worldwide of people being treated for these kinds of injuries, successfully or otherwise. Over time, it became clear that the only reason she had been able to receive treatment at all was because of the speed with which she had been able to get to hospital. The ICU team at Derriford broke new ground for medicine in their successful treatment of her sand aspiration and acute respiratory distress disorder, but without the intervention of the Cornwall Air Ambulance, Catherine would never have reached them in time. In that respect, Cornwall Air Ambulance succeeded where so many before must have failed.
When an accident like this happens in the UK, we dial 999 and the emergency services take over - something we are all lucky enough to take for granted. You simply call for an ambulance and one turns up. In areas of the UK like Cornwall, where there are many remote areas, the roads are narrow, journey times are long and the time it would take to drive a casualty to hospital are excessive, an air ambulance is usually available.
What many people don't realise though is, unlike almost every other branch of the emergency services and despite forming a critical part of the coutry's formal emergency response arrangements, air ambulances typically receive little or no formal government funding. The majority are in fact charities, and rely entirely on donations from local businesses and the public to remain operational. Cornwall Air Ambulance is no different.
As Catherine lay in hospital, I stood outside one day, looking at the helicopter as it stood on the helipad, waiting for its next emergency call. The phrase "Funded by the people of Cornwall" was written down each side and the full enormity of this hit home. I also resolved that one day, I would do what I could to repay the debt that I felt I owed them.
Over the time since those dark days, Catherine has rebuilt her life. After 6 months of recovery and rehabilitiation, she was able to return to New York. Over the course of 2010, with the support of her family, her work colleagues and her many friends, she has continued to regain her strength and continued her return to normal life. In recent months, she has actually taken up running and completed her first ever race the same day that I completed mine.
To honour Catherine's achievement, and to raise money for the charity which unquestionably saved her life, my wife Becs and I decided to travel to New York to see Catherine and to run the New York Marathon together, raising money for the Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust.
Becs was already marathon-fit, having run the London Marathon in April this year, and having had her first triathlon season in between the two races. Me on the other hand, well, I had bit of work to do!
Training had been going reasonably well. I've run over 400 miles, lost nearly 2 stone (and several inches off my waist) and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience of getting fit and seeing my distances get longer and my times get quicker. Unfortunately though, disaster has now struck. Having incurred what I thought was a simple sprained ankle while out training one morning, it now transpires that I actually came very close to breaking my ankle and that the cuboid bone & ligament in my foot are quite badly damaged (see picture!). I have been told that I must stop running for at least 3 months, or risk having to have surgery which would leave me never being able to run ever again. With deep regret, I have therefore had to pull out the marathon.
The good news however is that Becs, who was always going to be running with me, has agreed to carry on by herself and run on behalf of everyone who had already agreed to sponsor me, and to see if we can still raise some more money for a charity that we both owe a great deal to.
Please join me in getting right behind Becs in her second marathon of the year, and in supporting what we hope you agree is a very worth cause.
Jon & Becs
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